Nexus
by Black Dragon6
Summary: *Discontinued*
1. Rise of the Demon Slayer

Nexus  
  
a Ranma 1/2 fanfiction  
  
by Black Dragon  
  
  
  
Many of the characters used are not mine. They are owned by famous, rich people who get paid for doing stuff like this. Some of the characters in this are mine, but I still don't get paid for it. What's up with that?  
  
  
  
Nexus  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Rise of the Demon Slayer  
  
************************************************************************** ********  
  
  
  
Genma Saotome could be described in many ways. Despite the fact that the most agreed upon ways involved such words as 'lazy, greedy, selfish,' and the ever-popular 'stupid', not all of his traits were negative.  
  
  
  
However, today was not the day for Genma Saotome's selfless, heroic nature to shine through. In fact, he was partaking in one of the most dishonorable, if not most vital (in his opinion) acts: stealing.  
  
The fact that he was stealing from a holy temple did not help his karma any. He was currently sneaking in through a side door, his eyes nervously jumping from one side of the room to the other. It was a fairly large temple, and it probably contained a fair amount of treasure; there had been numerous armed guards around the shrine. The odd part was that though the guards never actually saw him, they seemed to notice his presence, as if an alarm had gone off in their minds whenever he was nearby. But alas, they were obviously lacking in martial prowess, and Genma had easily evaded them, even as their mysterious sixth sense led them in the right direction.  
  
  
  
The temple was large, painted elegantly in colors of gold and red. The temple also belonged to a religion that Genma had never heard of before: the White Star. Genma had assumed that it was some kind of cult.  
  
  
  
Genma felt a mild sense of uneasiness as he entered, but tried to push the thought aside as some kind of superstitious nervousness. Certainly taking a few coins wouldn't call down the wrath of whatever gods these guys worshipped, right?  
  
  
  
Genma proceeded into the temple, and arrived in some sort of hallway leading up to a set of huge doors. The hallway was adorned with armor and weapons, all seeming to be composed of strange materials, like ivory or gold. Genma contemplated taking the weapons, but decided against it. Those would be awkward and hard to carry, and besides, there was sure to be greater treasure behind the main doors up ahead.  
  
  
  
The doors opened, and Genma was treated to a sight he would never forget, though not for the reasons he first imagined.  
  
  
  
The room was filled with floating crystal spheres. As if that wasn't bizarre enough, in the center of the room was a huge golden ring, which, like the spheres, was floating in midair, slowly bobbing up and down, as if gravity couldn't decide if it should take effect or not. What attracted his attention, however, was the small objects on the ring. 10 small blue gems were embedded in the golden monument, glittering with an unnatural light.  
  
  
  
Genma's sense of uneasiness increased tenfold, but it was quickly drowned out by the thought of what he could get for these crystals.  
  
Genma stepped forward, between two of the spheres, and was promptly electrocuted.  
  
  
  
Genma recovered quickly, and scratched his chin in thought. He reached out to touch one of the orbs, and a thin ribbon of supernatural electricity leapt out at his finger.  
  
Genma once again looked thoughtful. Then he snapped his fingers as a plan formed in his mind.  
  
He ran back into the hallway, and returned a moment later with a diamond- tipped spear.  
  
  
  
Genma thrust the spear into one of the gems on the floating ring. The gem fell off, clattering to the floor. Genma mentally congratulated himself on his genius as he prepared another thrust with the spear.  
  
Genma failed to note that the strange glow of the gem had faded as soon as it parted with the ring.  
  
*Chink* *chink*  
  
Two more gems joined the first one on the floor.  
  
Genma was about to contine, when the remaining jewels started pulsing with light. Genma stared as they got brighter and brighter, and then, one by one, shattered.  
  
The ones already on the ground soon turned to dust after the rest were gone.  
  
The floating spheres around him trembled, and then, just like the jewels, glowed and shattered into little tiny fragments.  
  
  
  
Genma blinked, then visibly sagged. That great plan, wasted. Oh well.  
  
Genma snapped the diamond spearhead off the spear, and was about to go back for the other weapons as well, when a small sparkle of light from the center of the golden ring caught his eye. Genma slowly backed up against the wall as the sparkle grew and turned black, expanding to the fill the ring with some sort of black energy field.  
  
Genma had guessed what it was. It didn't take much imagination to figure out that it was a portal, nor did it take someone with Genma's intellect to figure out that he had made a big mistake.  
  
  
  
This was confirmed when a thick,clawed arm made its way out of the portal. It was soon followed by a vaguely humanoid creature, with lava- like red & black skin. It was twice the size of Genma, which made him pause for a moment to wonder how the creature had passed through a portal less than the diameter of its body.  
  
He only paused for a moment though. Then he ran.  
  
  
  
The guards that had before been chasing the intruder had been alerted to the shrine by the sound of shattering glass. They each prayed it didn't mean what they thought it meant. Their prayers were not answered.  
  
  
  
A white blur passed by, and one of the guards was just barely able to make out what the person who passed by looked like.  
  
Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on who you asked (most would say it was quite unfortunate) several demons fromt the portal room chose that moment to burst through the door.  
  
The guards of the White Star fought bravely, and used what little magic abilities they possessed, but the priests were ill-suited for direct combat, and had been out of practice. There had not been adequate need to use such magic for quite a few centuries, and though the teachings remained, such spells had only been used in practice situations, never in actual battle.  
  
The guards didn't last very long.  
  
__________________________________________________________________________ ________  
  
  
  
Ranma Saotome, age ten, poked mechanically at the small fire with a stick, prompting the flames to spread. He was bored, he was depressed, and he was lonely. It always seemed like every time he made a friend (or in Ryoga's case, a rival/unwilling and ungrateful friend), his father would just cart him off to somewhere else. It just got so tiresome, being all alone out in the woods. Well, technically, he wasn't alone, but his father wasn't the best of company.  
  
  
  
'Speaking of the old man, here he comes,' Ranma thought off-handedly.  
  
Muttering a "Yo, Pop," and returning his gaze to the fire, Ranma was nearly caught off-guard by the backpack that was thrown at him. As it was, it was thrown with such force that he fell over backward.  
  
  
  
"Pop? What the-"  
  
"No time for talk, boy! We've got to get out of here!"  
  
Ranma blinked as Genma tore down camp in record speed, then scowled.  
  
"Pop, you didn't get the police after you again, did you? Wait, there aren't any police out here."  
  
"Just hurry up! We're leaving!"  
  
"But why? It's almost nightfall! You can't seriously expect to walk all the way to China without sleeping!"  
  
  
  
Before Genma could reply, something else answered his question for him.  
  
The creature that stepped out (let's call it a "racid", for simplicity) had a large body shaped like an egg, only in the front the shell seemed to be broken up into three long spikes, covering its head and rendering the monster's face invisible. It's brown shell sported two thick, taloned legs, and a long tail with a wicked-looking blade on the end.  
  
Red eyes peered out from the shell. More racids stepped out of the woods.  
  
  
  
"Er... okay Pop, let's go."  
  
Genma nodded in agreement, and soon joined his son in an activity he was well versed in: running for his life.  
  
__________________________________________________________________________ ________  
  
  
  
Ranma and Genma panted in exhaustion as they crawled up the unnecessarily long stairway leading to the monastary.  
  
  
  
They had managed to evade the ridiculously persistent racids, each of them possessing stamina that even managed to outdo the hunter demons. Adrenaline is an amazing thing, huh?  
  
They had been forced to run the whole way, after Genma had found out that hiding in trees didn't deter them a bit. The creatures could knock down the strongest trees, it seemed, and had some kind of unnatural sense to stay on their trail.  
  
  
  
But now they were safe. Surely they had made it far enough to get away from most of the demons, at least for the night, and they could surely get food and board at the............ Church of the White Star?  
  
'Oh %!^!@,' thought Genma.  
  
  
  
Ranma, however, did not hesitate, and was already at the front door. Genma tried to stop the boy.  
  
"Wait son, maybe there's some other place we can stay for the night!"  
  
Ranma turned and looked at him like he was crazy.  
  
"What's wrong with you? It's the middle of the night, there're monsters out there wait'in to kill us, and you want to be picky about where we stay?"  
  
Ranma shook his head and walked up to the doors, knocking loudly, and hoping the people inside would be sympathetic enough to forgive being woken up at such an hour.  
  
  
  
The door opened, and a fairly old man stepped out, clad in long flowing white robes adorned with a gold trim. He looked down to the boy and raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Uh, hey, sorry to bother you at this time of night, but could we trouble you for a place to stay tonight? There are a bunch of monsters out there!"  
  
  
  
The priest's eyes widened briefly at the mention of monsters, and then he closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate. Ranma wondered what the heck he was doing. Genma wondered if there was any chance of being recognized as the one that defiled the White Star's temple.  
  
  
  
The priest opened his eyes after doing a passive scan of the child. There was no doubt that he was telling the truth. Which meant two things, the first being rather trivial, and the second being quite the opposite.  
  
'Damn! Who could've released the seal on the portal?'  
  
Ranma spoke up when he noticed the guy's eyes had opened again. "Um, excuse me?"  
  
The priest nodded, and gestured for both of them to enter.  
  
"Of course, we will take care of you for the night. Come in, and we'll get you a hot meal. My name is Tomen."  
  
Ranma blinked, rather surprised. After he had just blurted out the story, he realized how ridiculous he must have sounded, saying that they were being chased by demons. Lucky thing this guy believed him.  
  
  
  
Inside the temple, was rather like the inside, simple, without decoration other than the crest of a white star, which seemed to be portrayed everywhere. A few other robed men and women, these ones with silver lining on their robes or no lining at all, were kneeling in prayer before an altar, which held a single large crystal shard, clear as glass.  
  
Ranma was rather awed by the expanse of the church, while Genma was still contemplating what would happen if these people found out what he had done.  
  
  
  
Ranma and Genma were led to a room filled with tables, and served bowls of hot soup. It was nothing special, but better than Genma's cooking, which was more than enough incentive for Ranma to eat even more than he usually did.  
  
Tomen left to speak to the others. Before long the two martial artists heard several shouts and loud arguments, muffled to incomprehensibility by the wall between the two rooms.  
  
Several of the other priests filled the room suddenly, and Genma and Ranma suddenly felt several dark gazes upon them. Genma gulped.  
  
  
  
"Tell us what happened. Did you really see demons?" one of the priest with the silver lining asked.  
  
"Yeah, they had legs like birds but they had these weird shells over their heads. They also had tails with a knife on it." Ranma relayed his description of the creatures, and the woman who asked paled slightly.  
  
"Racids..." she whispered, "my God, it's true."  
  
Ranma blinked. "What's true?"  
  
"Never mind that!" A male priest, this one with no lining, spoke up. "What were you doing out in the woods?"  
  
"We're martial artists," Ranma replied cautiously, "we're on a training trip, and those monsters just attacked us out of the blue."  
  
They all were quiet for a moment, then their expressions turned somber. They had all scanned the boys thoughts, for they all possessed some semblance of telepathy, and found everything he said to be completely true. They would have scanned Genma, but it was much easier to do to a person who is speaking or is very young, and not good at hiding their emotions. Ranma had fit both those categories.  
  
A few of them had briefly scanned Genma, and retrieved emotions of guilt. They had assumed that as a martial artist, the man had some guilty feelings about freeloading, especially since he and his son had such healthy appetites.  
  
  
  
It should be noted that even the wisest of telepathic priests can make incredibly bad judgement calls.  
  
__________________________________________________________________________ ________  
  
  
  
Ranma yawned as he stood up from the small cot he was given to sleep in. It was actually rather comfortable, not having to deal with rocks and insects all night, and the young boy felt better rested than usual.  
  
  
  
Seeing that his father had not yet risen, Ranma left his bed to explore the building he had spent the night in.  
  
  
  
Ranma came to an immediate and complete stop when he heard the sounds of combat coming from somewhere nearby. He homed in on the sound, and came to what looked like an arena-like dojo. Inside, a few of the priests were watching a fight from a small set of wooden bleachers.  
  
In the center were two opponents, both unarmed. Both of them looked to be about 4 years older than he was. One of them, the one that caught his attention, was wrapped up in a brown tunic. He was rather tall, and was foreign, from what Ranma could tell. He had mussy, light brown hair with streaks of blond hair running through it and red eyes. He was muscular, especially compared to the thin, seemingly underfed priests walking around the rest of the church.  
  
  
  
The other boy charged. He aimed a punch at the taller boy's head, but it was blocked, as was his follow-up kick. The smaller opponent aimed another punch, and this one connected with his foe's shoulder.  
  
The taller boy barely noticed, however, and used the attack to get in a clean hit to the his opponent's left side, sending him sprawling across the mat.  
  
  
  
The fallen boy let out a cry of pain and clutched his left arm.  
  
The winner's expression quickly became worried, and he ran over to his opponent.  
  
"Oh geez, I didn't hurt you too bad, did I? I'm really sorry, I didn't know I hit you that hard..."  
  
The winner of the match continued to spout apologies, while the loser looked like he just wanted to shrivel up and die from the humiliation. Eventually the priests stood up, and one walked over to the fallen fighter. Another one addressed the winner.  
  
  
  
"Very good, Rayden. I'm pleased to see that you're making progress with your abilities, but you must learn to control your strength."  
  
"Not to mention work on your defense. I could point out about a hundred holes back there."  
  
Everyone turned with surprise to regard the newcomer. Ranma leaned back on the dojo wall and smirked confidently. This guy had obviously won most of his fights with superior strength and constitution, like Ryoga did. Except Ryoga was better; this guy barely had the actual skill of an average Karate black belt.  
  
"You. What are you doing here?" one of the priests he recognized from before asked.  
  
"I'm just wandering around. I could give your champ here a few tips if you want, though."  
  
One of the priests smiled. "You think you could defeat him?"  
  
Ranma nodded. "Absolutely."  
  
Rayden raised an eyebrow at that, and silently gestured for Ranma to enter the arena part of the dojo.  
  
  
  
Ranma was about to step up onto the platform that was used as the fighting area, when a bright glow caught his eye. He turned his head to the side and saw the priest that had walked up to the fallen boy was now standing over him, his hands glowing a bright yellow. After a moment his hands stopped glowing, and the boy stood up, and flexed his arm. Assured that it was healed, the boy sat down to watch the fight.  
  
Ranma stared. "Uh........... "  
  
Rayden spoke up. "Don't worry about that. They do that all the time."  
  
Ranma nodded silently and stepped onto the platform.  
  
One of the priests spoke. "Begin."  
  
  
  
Ranma didn't move.  
  
Neither did Rayden.  
  
It was quickly decided who had more patience as Rayden suddenly charged, only to find his opponent wasn't there when he reached him.  
  
He recieved a foot in the back.  
  
To say the fight went downhill for Rayden would be an understatement. Ranma was totally slaughtering him. The older boy barely had time to punch into the air before he had been hit eight times. Ranma moved like a ghost, and didn't hold anything back, either. Somehow, he felt that he needed to show the spectators what he could really do, and not that he could just jump around his opponent without getting hit.  
  
Finally, Ranma stopped, and stood behind Rayden.  
  
"Give up yet?"  
  
"..........................................................."  
  
Ranma poked him in the back. Rayden fell to the mat with a *thud*.  
  
"I'll take that as a 'yes'."  
  
  
  
Ranma lifted his head to the sound of whispers among the 'judges'. One of them stepped up, and started to heal Rayden.  
  
"Well, uh, what is your name?"  
  
"Ranma Saotome, of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts."  
  
"Well then Ranma, we are very impressed with your skill. You see, our masters are themselves more inept when it comes to unarmed fighting than some of our students. It would appear that you have beaten Rayden, who was our best, I'm afraid."  
  
"What? That guy was your best?"  
  
"Hey, lay off, all right?"  
  
  
  
Ranma watched as Rayden got up, just as if he had never been bruised in his life.  
  
"So you ready for a rematch already?"  
  
"All right, but this time, we fight my way."  
  
Ranma blinked. "Huh? What do you mean by that?"  
  
As if on cue, a large sword was thrown toward Rayden, who caught it effortlessly, and brought it to bear against Ranma. It was a very large sword, and not of Japanese origin. It was a double-edged blade, and a very ornate one at that. It had a deep blue handle, with a farily large purple gem centered just below the hilt of the blade. It was about as tall as Ranma himself, and the blade itself had a light bluish tint.  
  
"Whoa, you gonna use that? Isn't it kind of heavy?"  
  
Rayden waved it around a couple of times in the air, dispelling any illusions that he couldn't use the weapon as it was intended.  
  
Ranma smirked and took a ready stance. "All right then, maybe you're not a total loss, even if you do need a weapon."  
  
Rayden stared. "Don't you want a sword?"  
  
Ranma smirked again. "Nope, don't need one."  
  
One of the priests coughed, then spoke. "Rayden is quite adept at the weapon he holds, and I'm sure he wants no harm to come to you..."  
  
Ranma waved away the man's comment. "Hey, don't worry. The better he is, the better this fight will be."  
  
"Very well, if you insist. But be warned, only a few priests here are able to heal vital organs in time to save someone's life, and no one here can heal a decapitation. Begin!"  
  
  
  
Ranma smirked yet again as Rayden came at him faster than expected, and Ranma was forced to really work to get out of the way. Ranma wasn't used to fighting someone with the kind of reach that Rayden had with his sword, and Ranma was forced to put forth every effort to avoid being sliced to pieces.  
  
True, Genma had better reach than he did, but so did this guy, even without the blade.  
  
This was what he lived for. The challenge. The thrill of finding a worthy opponent, and then defeating him.  
  
And soon it was over. Ranma, while having been put totally on the defensive, finished analyzing Rayden's attacks and located a pattern. He ducked under the next horizontal strike, grabbed the arm, and smashed his knee against the older boy's wrist.  
  
The sword fell to the mat. Ranma flipped it up with his foot, then grabbed it and held the blade against the neck of his opponent.  
  
  
  
Rayden gulped.  
  
The whispers once again started amongst the priests. After a few seconds, the one who spoke earlier stood.  
  
"Ranma Saotome, you have beaten our greatest student, fair and square. May I be so bold as to ask who trained you?"  
  
"It was my Pop. He's still sleeping."  
  
"I see. Congratulations on your victory."  
  
  
  
The priest bowed, and then left. He was soon followed by the other priests, who all gave him strange looks as they passed by. Some were of admiration, others were of disgust or annoyance, and a few of them even showed fear.  
  
Ranma felt a tap on his shoulder.  
  
  
  
Rayden smiled at him, and scratched the back of his head nervously. "Hey, can I have my sword back now?"  
  
Ranma gave him back the weapon, and the larger boy sheathed it, then strapped the blade to his back.  
  
"You were awesome back there, by the way."  
  
Ranma grinned. "So were you. Just not awesome enough."  
  
"All right, all right, no gloating. Just to show that I'm not a sore loser, how 'bout I show you around the place? My name's Rayden Shikodan."  
  
Ranma grinned. Maybe this wasn't such a bad turn of events after all.  
  
__________________________________________________________________________ ________  
  
  
  
"You see, what you saw before being used on me was basic healing magic. It's pretty powerful stuff, and can seal up large cuts, mend broken bones, and heal bruises almost instantly."  
  
Ranma just nodded, prompting the older boy to continue.  
  
"All the priests around here can do that, along with some other stuff, although the healing magic is kinda mandatory. The rest of the stuff is sort of specialized, and only certain people can used certain skills."  
  
"What's the 'other stuff'?"  
  
"Well, there's a bunch of white magic spells that I don't know much about, and then there's shielding, telekinesis, telepathy, and warding."  
  
Seeing Ranma's blank look, Rayden elaborated.  
  
"Like I said, I don't know much about the other white magic stuff, but shielding involves making energy shields out of thin air, telekinesis is making things float with your mind, telepathy is reading someone's thoughts, and warding involves making spirit wards which have a bunch of different effects."  
  
One of those items caught Ranma's attention. "Read someone's mind? What am I thinking right now?"  
  
Rayden turned toward him and blinked. "No, no, no. I can't do any of that stuff. Only the priests can."  
  
Ranma looked disappointed. "But aren't you training to become a priest?"  
  
"Nope, I can't. To become a White Star priest, you gotta be able to do at least some of the stuff I told you about. All the elder priests say that I can't learn to do that stuff, though, so I just train in fighting."  
  
"Why can't you learn that stuff?"  
  
Rayden shrugged. "Don't know. I think it's genetic or something, since most of the priests around here spend their entire lives in the church, and have their families here, too. I'm an orphan."  
  
Ranma looked sympathetic. "Oh. I'm sorry. How did your parents die?"  
  
Rayden shrugged again. "Don't know. I don't even know if I have any. The priests just found me in the woods one day. Weird huh?"  
  
Ranma didn't speak, but nodded.  
  
"Anyway, we're getting off the topic. How would you like to see some of the stuff I told you about?"  
  
Ranma nodded eagerly.  
  
  
  
The two boys continued through the church, and soon came to a staging area of sorts, like the arena, but with a much bigger field.  
  
Ranma's eyes widened as he saw what was going on in the middle of the field.  
  
A boy, about Rayden's age, with long, silvery white hair and wearing a smaller size of the standard white robes, was in the middle of the area, being pelted with rocks that were thrown by the other priests in training at the sidelines.  
  
The odd thing was that the rocks weren't hitting the boy, but bouncing off the nearly transparent bubble that stood in front of him. The shield glowed softly, letting out ripples throughout the glassy dome wherever a rock struck.  
  
  
  
"Yo, Kaze!"  
  
The boy, apparently named Kaze, turned suddenly at his name being called, and lost the concentration necessary to hold the shield up.  
  
*Thwack* *thwack* *thwack*  
  
The other students stopped tossing their projectiles when they realized that the rocks were actually getting through. Kaze fell face first onto the ground, sporting three noticable lumps on his head.  
  
"Ouch. You okay, Kaze?"  
  
Rayden walked up to his friend as Ranma sweatdropped. The other young priests quickly apologized for not stopping sooner, and left.  
  
  
  
"Master Shikodan, why did you interrupt me?" Kaze stood up with Rayden's help, and quickly casted a healing spell on himself. He glowed yellow briefly, and the three bumps retracted themselves into his skull.  
  
"I want you to meet Ranma Saotome. He totally crushed me in martial arts training."  
  
Kaze bowed to Ranma. "Good day, master Saotome. I'm impressed. Beating down master Shikodan is no small feat."  
  
Ranma scratched the back of his head self-consciously. "Ah, it was nothing. And just call me Ranma, please."  
  
Rayden shook his head. "You may as well forget it. He does that with everyone."  
  
Kaze stood up. "My name is Kaze Toren. When were you taken in?"  
  
"I wasn't. Me and my Pop were just crashing here from the night after a bunch of demons chased us."  
  
Rayden and Kaze's eyes widened. "Demons?"  
  
Ranma grinned. "Yeah, real ugly ones too. Tell you what, you show me some of that tele-whatsit stuff, and I'll tell you all about them."  
  
__________________________________________________________________________ ________  
  
  
  
"Mr. Saotome."  
  
"Gack!" Genma jumped and nearly spit out his soup at the sudden appearance of Tomen, the high priest. Ever since he had woken up, he had been intending to get out of the church as quickly as possible, but found that Ranma had wandered off. He had been so distracted thinking, he didn't sense the priest's approach.  
  
Genma composed himself before he turned around. "Yes, what is it?"  
  
Tomen looked around at all the others currently in the dining area, then gestured for Genma to follow him.  
  
"I'm afraid we must speak of this in private. Come."  
  
Genma felt a deep chill down his back. 'They know! They know I released the seal! They're going to execute me, or purify me, or make me a virgin sacrifice! ............. Wait, I'm not a virgin.' Genma was so busy thinking about the different fates that lied in wait for him, that he actually followed Tomen into a small part of the church.  
  
When he realized he was somewhere else, he looked around. The walls were covered in parchments, and there were several bookcases filled with scrolls.  
  
Tomen took out one of the scrolls, and dusted it off. Then he spoke.  
  
  
  
"Mr. Saotome, I have seen your son's skill in the Art, and frankly, I'm astounded."  
  
Genma blinked. He had not expected that.  
  
"He defeated Rayden, our best fighter, and four years his elder, without taking a scratch, even when he was at a disadvantage. This shows definite talent on your part as an instructor."  
  
Genma smiled, his pride overcoming his current fear and guilt. "Yes, the boy's really something, eh?"  
  
"Yes he is. I would be so bold as to ask if you would take on two more apprentices?"  
  
Genma stopped smiling and stared blankly at the priest. "Huh?"  
  
"Now before you refuse, hear me out. I know that you probably have enough trouble feeding your own child, and taking on two more will be no small burden, but listen first to what I have to say."  
  
The priest opened up the scroll he held, and looked it over as he continued.  
  
"Like most other religions, the White Star has its beliefs and prophecies. One such prophecy is that when the seal on the dark gate is broken, a great warrior shall arise to help fight the creatures that come from within. That warrior will be the protector of his people, the Guardian of the White Star."  
  
The priest closed up the scroll. "It is my belief that our best fighter, Rayden, is that warrior, and now that the gate has been opened, demons are even as we speak pouring into our world. However, we are not suited to raise such a person."  
  
Tomen turned toward Genma, a somber look in his eyes. "We are by no means weak, but our foundation lies in the times of peace, and the ways of battle have been all but forgotten by our people. However, you seem more than adept at such practices."  
  
The priest sighed. "Which is why I beg of you. Take Rayden, and our best training priest Kaze. Teach Shikodan the ways of combat, so that he may one day be able to fulfill his legacy. Kaze Toren is our finest acolyte, and is fully able to develop his own unique skills on his own. His abilities will serve you well."  
  
  
  
Genma stared at the man before him for a moment, before speaking cautiously.  
  
"Not that I'm not sympathetic to your cause, but I do in fact have trouble feeding my own child, and training another one will not be easy. Heck, it might well be impossible. Besides, won't their parents mind?"  
  
Tomen shook his head. "Both are orphans. Rayden was found as a baby crawling through the woods one day by an envoy, while Kaze's father died before he was born. His mother died giving birth."  
  
Genma lowered his head and gave a nod of sympathy.  
  
Tomen took out a bag from a chest near the back of the room. It was fairly large, and the priest obviously had difficulty lifting it.  
  
"As for feeding them, I think this shall be adequate to help for quite a few years, with plenty left over to pay for other small luxuries."  
  
The priest opened the bag to reveal gold coins and gems of all sorts. Genma's eyes seemed to momentarily glaze over.  
  
"Of course, it would be rude to refuse such a responsibility, especially after you showed us such hospitality."  
  
Tomen smiled, assured that his students were in good hands.  
  
  
  
Once again, even a high priest can make mistakes.  
  
__________________________________________________________________________ ________  
  
  
  
Rayden and Kaze waved goodbye to the people that had provided for them for as long as they could remember. Kaze was somber, while Rayden just let the tears flow unabashedly. Soon they had left the church, and were on their way.  
  
  
  
Ranma looked at his new friends happily. He'd never be lonely again!  
  
"Hey Kaze, how 'bout you show Pop some of that stuff you showed me!"  
  
Genma looked at his son as they left the last flight of stairs down into the valley.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
Ranma smiled. "Just watch. All right Kaze, what am I thinking?"  
  
Kaze closed his eyes for a moment, then lifted his head. "You are hoping that we do not encounter those demons while on the road."  
  
Ranma grinned. "Right! Kaze can read your mind, Pop! Isn't that cool? Pop?"  
  
The three boys looked toward Genma, who had a wild, wide-eyed look and appeared to be panicking.  
  
"Y-yo-you c-can read m-minds?"  
  
Kaze thought for a moment before answering. "Not really, as of yet, anyway. I can read certain thoughts at the surface of the mind, but I must have the full mental consent of the subject, and I cannot do a reading without the subject noticing."  
  
Rayden smirked. "In other words, he can only read your thoughts if you let him."  
  
Genma let out a breath of relief.  
  
"Why Pop? You got something to hide?"  
  
Genma returned to his panicked state. "NO!! I just, uh, was surprised, that's all. What other things can you do?"  
  
Kaze thought for a moment. "Well, I can do a passive mind scan, which can only detect emotions and deceit. For example, right now you're feeling...... fear?"  
  
Genma flinched, but slowly nodded. Kaze just shrugged. Many people feared what they did not understand.  
  
Ranma piped up again. "He can also make things float in the air and make this really cool shield!"  
  
Genma blinked, then shook his head. He needed an aspirin.  
  
"Whatever. We need to get to a town and buy some supplies. Then we'll head for China."  
  
Ranma nodded. "All right, Pop!"  
  
Rayden blinked. "All the way to China?"  
  
Kaze nodded. "Of course, elder Saotome."  
  
  
  
End Chapter 1  
  
************************************************************************** ********  
  
  
  
Authors notes:  
  
Well, what do you think? Send C&C to revcoll@peoplepc.com  
  
Where am I going with this? Well, it's not just a new character fic, where you get to see a bunch of new guys interact with the normal Ranma cast. It's more than that. Due to the demons getting loose, there'll be much bigger problems than who Ranma will eventually marry.  
  
No, the demons will not go on a rampage across the countryside, destroying everything in their path. They end up taking residence in forests and dens, and tend to avoid masses of people, like cities and towns. Many of the demons and demon clans, however, will take a definite interest in everyone's favorite martial artist.  
  
Crossovers with Urusei Yatsura and a few others are to be expected.  
  
Why didn't Genma just leave Rayden and Kaze on the side of the road and leave them? Maybe he figured that he had been given enough gold to actually take care of them. Maybe he felt guilty for opening the dark gate and getting many White Star priests killed, and thought that in some way, his taking on the two boys would make up for it. Or maybe he was just so creeped out by Kaze's abilities that he really didn't want any experienced priests coming after him. 


	2. Clash with the Amazons! The Legacy of Ra...

Nexus  
  
a Ranma 1/2 fanfiction  
  
by Black Dragon  
  
revcol@peoplepc.com  
  
http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/fanficlair/index.html  
  
  
  
Standard disclaimer applies. I don't own Ranma, I never claimed to own Ranma, and unless maybe Rumiko Takahashi moves and there's confusion over where to send the royalties, I never will.  
  
  
  
Nexus  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Clash with the Amazons! The Legacy of Rail!  
  
************************************************************************** ********  
  
  
  
*Crnch* *crnch*  
  
The sounds of small pebbles being crushed underfoot were quite audible within the echoing walls of the rock hallway, as a large, heavy creature slowly made its way among the granite and brimstone.  
  
The creature stopped at a tunnel intersection as another creature passed by. It had the body of a snake, but had two arms that ended in razor- sharp claws. The first beast was impatient, and gave a loud growl as the other slithered passed. The second creature gave a low hiss, but ultimately left quickly, cowering before the brown hulk.  
  
  
  
The monster continued on its way through the small labyrinth, before coming to a doorway decorated with gems and gold, and generally looking quite out of place in the area which closely resembled a mine.  
  
It uttered something not to be understood by most humans, and the doorway opened of its own accord, allowing the creature passage. On the other side, there stood an elegantly decorated room, with a tile pool in the center. Inside the pool swirled a torrent of murky blue liquid. Looking into the pool, and seemingly unaware of the creature, stood a figure in a black cloak, with glowing red eyes peering out from a dark hood. What was particularly odd, though, was that instead of arms which ended in hands, as one might expect, two large hands which seemed to be made of some kind of crystal simply floated nearby, free of any limbs restricting their movement. One of them was held open, palm down, above the pool, while the other grasped a short halberd laden with jewels.  
  
  
  
Before the monster could do anything, the black figure spoke.  
  
"You're here. Good. I need your assistance in killing somebody."  
  
The monster grunted, then stared hard at the figure. "Who is it?" the monster asked in a deep, gutteral voice.  
  
The hand over the pool retracted itself, then started to circle before the creature. The very air seemed to be drawn to the spot and condense, and then formed two human figures.  
  
"These two are the only escapees from the church of the White Star. The rest have been dealt with, one way or another. These two are supposedly the only threat left to our campaign." The figure looked up at the ceiling with a decidingly annoyed expression. "Why we even bother with such insignificant details is beyond me, but you have your orders. Afterward, feel free to go eat some humans or whatever you do in your spare time."  
  
The creature only nodded.  
  
The cloaked figure turned the palm of one of his hands towards the monster, and a purple beam shot out of it. The beam struck the creature, and it disappeared.  
  
__________________________________________________________________________ ________  
  
  
  
Somewhere very far away, in the nether regions of China......  
  
  
  
"Here sirs, we come to Jusenkyou, Valley of Cursed Springs!" the portly guide, dressed in a green Communist military outfit, exclaimed before the small group of four behind him.  
  
The largest of the four, an overweight man in a dirtly gi wearing a bandanna over his bald head and sporting glasses, grinned as he caught sight of the springs.  
  
The second biggest was just as tall as the first man, if not taller. He was wearing a long brown trench coat over a black t-shirt and jeans. He also wore black boots and gloves, and had a large sword strapped to his back, along with the titanic backpack he was toting, which was noticably larger than the others. He had a distinctly bored expression on his face.  
  
The third figure was slightly shorter than the first two. He had long, flowing, silver-white hair, and wore a priest's white robes with a silver trim. His white gloves were clasped together as he seemed to call out to the surroundings with his mind.  
  
The fourth figure was just as tall as the third, though a good three years younger. He was wearing a gi like the first man, and had raven black hair tied into a pigtail. His bright blue eyes searched the area they were in before settling on the figure in robes.  
  
  
  
"Hey Kaze, watcha doing?"  
  
The figure turned to the speaker, frowning. "Master Ranma, I sense powerful spiritual eminations in this area. I'm afraid the magical energies are very strong here. They are wreaking havoc with the balances."  
  
Ranma blinked. "Huh? What do you mean?"  
  
Kaze turned toward him. "These lands are cursed. The name of the grounds isn't a coincidence. I suggest we use caution."  
  
The man in a coat stopped walking and turned towards his companions. "Use caution? Why don't we just get out of here? I don't wanna get cursed!"  
  
The guide nodded. "Ah, sirs, that very good idea. You see, every cursed spring has it own very tragic story and-oh sir! What you doing?! Very bad you fall in spring!"  
  
Genma snorted from his position atop the bamboo pole. "C'mon Ranma! You too Rayden! And Kaze, I don't want you filling their heads with your superstitious mumbo-jumbo!"  
  
Kaze looked distressed, and turned toward Genma. "I'm only trying to warn you......"  
  
The guide nodded. "Yes, you listen! You no want to fall in spring!"  
  
Genma growled. "You fools! This is a training ground! What else are we supposed to do here?! Look at the view?!!"  
  
Kaze and the guide didn't really know how to respond to that. Rayden leaned up against a tree and put his arms behind his head.  
  
"Well, he's got a point, but I'm still not going up there."  
  
Genma slapped his forehead. "Why oh why was I entrusted with such pathetic and cowardly students? Get up here Ranma!"  
  
  
  
Ranma rolled his eyes in exasperation, but leapt up atop one of the poles anyway.  
  
At once the two started fighting, doing complex aerial manuevers that defied every physical law ever devised.  
  
On the sidelines, Kaze conversed with the guide in Chinese.  
  
  
  
/"So you say it's a shapeshifting curse?"/  
  
The guide nodded. /"I'm afraid so. The curse changes whoever falls into the spring into whatever drowned in the spring last."/  
  
*Splash*  
  
Kaze blinked, then turned to see a soggy, wet panda crawl out of the spring that Genma had just fallen into. Ranma was in shock, and Rayden wasn't much better.  
  
Kaze sighed. 'That old fool,' he thought bitterly. Genma was quite possibly the only person Kaze had ever totally lost respect for. It was quite noticable in that Genma was the only one that he didn't address as "master" or "mistress". Not that he cared, or anyone else for that matter, but to Kaze it was a big deal.  
  
  
  
Ranma was shocked to see a panda come out of the pond wearing his father's gi. So shocked, in fact, that he didn't dodge the panda's next attack.  
  
Ranma went sailing over the water of the various springs, heading in a graceful arc toward one in particular......  
  
And floated two feet above the water, the air from his passage disrupting the spring's liquid surface ever so slightly as he hovered.  
  
"Ah, that too bad. Young sir fall in Spring of Drowned-" the guide's brain caught up with his mouth, and he realized that Ranma was still dry, and male. He turned toward Kaze, and involuntarily took a step back as he saw the White Star priest's forehead emitting a small golden haze of light as he concentrated, eyes closed.  
  
Ranma slowly floated away from the waters of the spring, then landed roughly on the ground next to the pool.  
  
  
  
The guide seemed to recover somewhat as the glow in front of Kaze's forehead dissipated.  
  
"Oh, sir, you very lucky you no fall in spring. That Spring of Drowned Girl, very tragic story of young girl that drown in spring 1,400 year ago. Now whoever fall in spring take body of young girl!"  
  
Ranma's eyes widened, then he turned to Kaze. "Oh man, thanks for the save Kaze. That could have been messy."  
  
  
  
Rayden, Ranma, and Kaze all turned to glare at Genma, but nearly burst out laughing instead at the sight of a panda waving its arms around frantically.  
  
Kaze smiled. "If you're asking if there's a cure, no, at least not one that we know of. The curse is water based. Hot water will restore you to your normal state, but cold water will return you to your cursed form. A panda, if you haven't already guessed."  
  
The guide produced a kettle from behind his back and poured it on Genma, who immediately grabbed the guide after being restored and started spouting accusations.  
  
  
  
"Why didn't you warn us of this earlier?! You had better have a good- erk!"  
  
The "erk" was the result of Ranma putting his foot into the back of his father's head.  
  
"He DID warn you, old man! Kaze did too! This is your own damn fault!"  
  
Kaze nodded. "The spirits of this place are vengeful, and lost souls run rampant. I think it would be wise to depart this place soon."  
  
Genma flinched, then sighed and lowered his head. Usually he would not resign himself to fault so easily, but this time Kaze was speaking out against him too. He didn't even want to think of what Rayden would do if he intervened. 'Ungrateful pests,' he thought as he got up off the ground.  
  
  
  
Genma suddenly got an idea. Thankfully, it didn't involve getting anybody engaged against their will.  
  
"Kaze, can you cure me of this curse?"  
  
Kaze stopped, surprised that Genma would actually think to ask him for help. "Well, I suppose I could try to come up with an incantation. It will take a while though. Purging spirits in such a base form is not simple."  
  
Genma nodded happily. "Yes, yes whatever. So long as you can get rid of it."  
  
That matter resolved (or at least so he thought) Genma turned toward the guide. "So, are there any other locations to train at around here?"  
  
The guide thought about it for a bit, then nodded.  
  
"Yes sirs, there is Amazon village of Joketsuzoku, is home of power warrior Amazons."  
  
Rayden blinked. "Amazons? As in women warriors, right?"  
  
The guide nodded. "Yes sirs. Amazons usually not teach special techniques to outsiders, but have many type training."  
  
The guide started walking, and the others followed. Genma thought over what Rayden had brought up before. Female warriors? Genma shrugged. 'Oh well, it's better than nothing.'  
  
__________________________________________________________________________ ________  
  
  
  
Far above, on a cliff overlooking Jusenkyou, a lone figure wandered about in small circles. If one would have looked at him, one could swear that he was actually lost in the small clearing between the two groups of trees in front of and behind him.  
  
The young man stopped, looked around, then let out a low growl and screamed to the heavens.  
  
"Where on Earth am I now?!" The boy was silent for a moment, then added, "Ranma, this is all your fault!!"  
  
  
  
Actually, there was someone watching him at that moment, and he currently had a rather large sweatdrop on his head. The second figure shook his head, then silently moved after the first boy as he finally found his way back into the woodlands of China.  
  
__________________________________________________________________________ ________  
  
  
  
Joketsuzoku was surprisingly large for a remote village, the village square alone taking up quite some space.  
  
In the middle of the square, two large pillars had been erected, and in between them a thick wooden log stood, suspended by strong rope. The log showed considerable wear, with the cuts and gouges made by several different weapons peppering its bark.  
  
  
  
The guide led his party into the village, pointing out the different areas.  
  
Genma merely followed, impatiently searching for some sort of training area.  
  
Ranma looked around, hoping to see some fighting being demonstrated.  
  
Kaze had relaxed visibly since leaving the springs, and chose to immerse his interest in the tour, stopping to look at everything the guide pointed out.  
  
Rayden also looked at the sights, but constantly stopped to briefly admire the inhabitants of the village. He wasn't a lech or anything, but the taut, athletic bodies of many healthy women were certainly worth a passing glance.  
  
  
  
The guide led them to the village square, where a large crowd of amazons, mostly warriors, had gathered for something. Noticing the gathering, the guide pointed toward the center of the square.  
  
"Ooh, we very lucky sirs! Today is Joketsuzoku annual tournament! Is very great honor to win!"  
  
The entire group directed their attention toward the challenge log, where a huge, grotesquely muscular woman with a gigantic sword was facing off against a smaller, and much prettier, girl with long purple hair and wielding two bonbori.  
  
The two fighters seemed to circle each other for a moment, and then the larger one attacked, striking downwards with her huge sword. The sword missed the girl and instead became lodged in the challenge log, and soon the colossal woman was knocked off with a well placed kick from the other girl.  
  
  
  
Ranma assessed the winner for a moment.  
  
"Hmm... she's not half bad."  
  
Genma's voice, coming from some twenty feet away, called out to the group.  
  
"C'mon boys! It's a buffet!"  
  
For some reason, they all felt a foreboding sense of dread upon hearing this.  
  
"Ah! Sir, what you doing? That first prize for tournament! You no eat that!"  
  
  
  
Alas, it was too late. Genma was already stuffing his face, thouroughly ignoring the frantic gesturings of the guide.  
  
The winner, upon seeing that her prize was being devoured by someone other than herself, stalked up angrily toward the man in the gi.  
  
/"You there! What do you think you're doing!"/  
  
Genma looked up at the woman blankly, not having understood a word.  
  
/"Forgive him, he doesn't speak Mandarin."/  
  
Shampoo blinked, then turned towards the man with the white hair who had spoken. Briefly calling up her short lessons in Japanese (of which she very rarely paid attention to, anyway), the girl gave a broken speech toward the travelers.  
  
"You eat prize! That Shampoo's!"  
  
Rayden turned toward Ranma. "Figures the old man would get us into trouble so quick."  
  
Ranma nodded sagely.  
  
Genma, now having understood, quickly found a way out of the situation.  
  
"The prize belongs to whoever wins the tournament, right?"  
  
Shampoo frowned. This man was going to challenge her? "Yes. Why, you want fight?"  
  
Genma grinned, then shook his head. "No, but my son does. Ranma, you fight her."  
  
Ranma facefaulted. Then he got up. "What? Fight your own battles!"  
  
Genma got that 'I'm your father and I know best' look on his face. "Now Ranma, as the heir to the Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts, it's your responsibility to test your skill against the strongest fighters in this village. So stop whining and fight her!"  
  
  
  
Ranma grumbled, but stepped up onto the challenge log. Shampoo interpreted the proceedings, then turned toward Kaze.  
  
/"That man must be a coward to send his own son to fight the village champion."/  
  
Kaze nodded. /"If only he was JUST a coward. Our lives would have been that much easier."/  
  
Shampoo giggled briefly before a look of determination crossed her face, and she leapt onto the challenge log.  
  
  
  
Ranma stood on the log in a loose stance, and then he decided to take the initiative and strike. He moved with such speed that Shampoo was hard pressed to block the initial charge. The blow never came, as Ranma leapt over the girl's head. Shampoo turned around, swinging her bonbori in a horizontal arc right where Ranma's chest should be. However, Ranma had already ducked the blow, and swept Shampoo's feet with his leg.  
  
Shampoo fell, and Ranma backed off. Getting back on her feet, the young Amazon struck at her opponent with a single bonbori thrust forward. Ranma dodged to the side, grabbed her outstretched arm, and then tossed her off the log, in a move quite unlike most martial arts maneuvers.  
  
Shampoo hit the dirt.  
  
  
  
Ranma jumped off the challenge log, then bowed to Shampoo, who hadn't yet gotten off the ground.  
  
"That was a good fight. You're really very skilled." Then he left. Kaze had always told him that less people devote their lives to getting revenge on you if stop to tell them "good fight" after you beat them.  
  
Ranma walked back to the table, where Genma was grinning.  
  
"Good job boy! Though I'm not sure about your finishing attack..." That said, Genma was about to resume eating, when an arm grabbed the back of his gi and he was rudely yanked away from the table.  
  
"Oh no you don't Pop! I won this food, so it's mine!" Ranma smiled and turned towards the otheres. "You guys want some?"  
  
Rayden grinned. "Why, don't mind if I do." Kaze merely nodded and helped himself. The guide looked at all the food, shrugged, and took a nice chunk of fish to nibble on.  
  
  
  
Shampoo looked up from her position , dazed. All she remembered was being defeated, and then something the fight being good. Wait......  
  
Shampoo's mind wheeled back to that one fact. She had been defeated...... didn't that mean something?  
  
/"Shampoo? Are you all right?"/ asked a voice in Chinese.  
  
Shampoo got up, to find her friend Brush looking at her excitingly.  
  
/"Yes, I'm all right..."/  
  
Brush giggled and looked over to the first prize table. /"Wow, you're so lucky to be defeated by such a handsome male! Do you think his friends are that good?"/  
  
Suddenly it clicked in her head, and Shampoo felt like slapping her forehead. Of course! She looked around, and found her future husband and his friends eating the first prize.  
  
  
  
Smiling, Shampoo ran up to them, ignoring the whispers of the gathered crowd and Genma's whining of how Ranma was so disrespectful. She reached the man that had defeated her, and tapped him on the shoulder.  
  
Ranma turned around, and didn't even have time to mutter "Huh?" before Shampoo grabbed both sides of his head, and pulled him into a heavy, passionate kiss.  
  
Kaze stopped eating and stared.  
  
Rayden stared, but kept on eating.  
  
The guide stared for a moment, before remembering something important and slapping his forehead.  
  
Genma quickly rushed over and started eating while everyone was distracted, then finally noticed what was distracting them and stared.  
  
  
  
After what seemed like a very long time, Shampoo broke the kiss slowly, then trapped Ranma into a tight hug, snuggling into his chest.  
  
Ranma was absolutely still, his eyes wide and his pigtail standing straight up in the air.  
  
".................................................. C-can somebody t-tell me what just h-h-happened?"  
  
Shampoo was happy to oblige. "Wo da airen." She snuggled closer.  
  
That didn't help Ranma any, who flinched at the contact and didn't understand a single word.  
  
Kaze, however......  
  
"She said, 'my beloved husband'."  
  
Kaze and Rayden were clearly perplexed about the whole turn of events. The guide was about to say something, when Genma suddenly appeared in front of his son and started yelling wildly.  
  
"Ranma! How dare you elope with some woman behind my back! You would forsake your honor to-"  
  
Genma was cut off by a fist to his face.  
  
"Shut up old man! I didn't elope with nobody! She's confused or something! She... probably hit her head too hard on the ground! Yeah, that's it!"  
  
The guide again started to talk, but Rayden's voice cut him off. "Yeah right Ranma. She didn't hit the ground that hard. And it's not like she suddenly think's you're married because you defeated her in combat or anything." Rayden grinned, and was about to add something else, when the guide finally interrupted.  
  
"That sir, exactly why girl think you married."  
  
Ranma, Rayden, Kaze, and Genma all turned toward the guide. The amazing thing was, that throughout the whole exchange, Shampoo had remained relatively undisturbed on Ranma's chest.  
  
"Amazon womans very prideful. They want bring new warriors into tribe all time, so whenever outsider male beat Amazon woman, Amazon woman marry man to have many strong child."  
  
  
  
Ranma's eyes were huge. As were Genma's, though he was sweating too.  
  
Kaze looked at the guide in a way that communicated that he couldn't believe what he was hearing.  
  
Rayden whistled. "Wow, I stand corrected. You work fast, don'tcha Ranma? We're only here for ten minutes and the girls are already trying to get into your pants!"  
  
Shampoo blinked as Ranma suddenly slipped out of her hug to shove Rayden's face into a bowl of cabbage stew. Genma's voice rang out soon afterwards.  
  
"You must be joking! This is ridiculous!"  
  
Shampoo turned angrily toward the fat martial artist.  
  
"Is no ridiculous! Is Amazon law!"  
  
Genma turned towards the young girl. "Then take me to whoever's in charge here! We'll settle this immediately!"  
  
Shampoo glared at the man, understanding only that he intended to combat her right to her airen. She sighed and looked at Ranma as he led the small group to her great grandmother's hut. She was lucky she had gotten the best-looking one for herself; not that the other two were ugly, but still, why settle for less?  
  
Ranma, for his part, was stuck between nervous shock that he was suddenly married to some girl he had just met, and overpowering curiosity for why Genma was all of a sudden taking such keen interest in his welfare. Ranma thought that there had to be an ulterior motive; he would've thought that standard procedure for Genma would be to leech off the tribe for a couple of months, using the marriage as an excuse, and then leave at night, taking all of them with him. Or maybe even just leaving them here.  
  
Rayden and Kaze were alternating between being puzzled over the quick turn of events, and looking around at all the stares they were getting from various other Amazons. It appeared that since Ranma was taken, they were next on the list.  
  
__________________________________________________________________________ ________  
  
  
  
Genma slammed his hands palm down on the wooden table, causing the heavy piece of furntiture to shake from the impact.  
  
"Absolutely not! Ranma will not marry this girl!"  
  
*Bonk!*  
  
Genma rubbed his head as a thick lump grew, wincing from the pain as the elderly woman he was facing withdrew her staff from his skull.  
  
"Don't do that. You're damaging the furniture."  
  
Cologne was very old and very ugly; only above two feet tall, shrunken and wrinkled to an extreme that Ranma wasn't aware was possible. She managed eye contact by standing atop a three-foot, gnarled wooden staff, and down her back trailed a long trail of gray-white hair, a startling contrast to Kaze's fine silver mane.  
  
Rayden lie groaning, upside-down and embedded in a caved-in section of the hut's wall. Apparently his cry of "Ahh! A gremlin!" had been taken personally.  
  
  
  
The wrinkled woman turned toward Ranma, giving him a smile that sent chills down his spine.  
  
"Well now, son-in-law, when do you want to hold the wedding ceremony?"  
  
Ranma got angry, visibly trying to ignore the attractive woman who was practically attached to his front.  
  
"Look you old ghoul, I ain't marryin' nobody!"  
  
*Bonk!*  
  
Ranma groaned and rubbed the bump on his head. 'Man, she hits hard for an old lady.'  
  
"Respect your elders boy! And you have to marry Shampoo. According to our laws, you're already married the moment Shampoo gives the kiss of marriage. I just thought you might like to make it official by your standards as well."  
  
Kaze spoke up from the side of the room. "If I may ask, what right do you have to impose marriage upon wandering travelers such as ourselves?"  
  
Cologne glared at the man, despite the fact that he had been the most polite out of all of them.  
  
"You are on our land, so you must obey our rules. And if I may ask, what right do you have to question our way of life?"  
  
Kaze did a brief mental scan. 'I sense nothing but the utmost confidence within her, just bordering arrogance, but never reaching it. This does not bode well for us. Well, unless master Saotome wishes to have that girl as his wife.'  
  
  
  
Genma didn't like the way this was going. He had almost no idea what was happening, but it was obvious enough that they were losing. Time to use his trump card.  
  
"Ranma can't marry Shampoo because he's already engaged!"  
  
Ranma's eyes widened. As did Shampoo's.  
  
"WHAT?!?! What do you mean I'm already engaged?!"  
  
Ranma, slipping out of Shampoo's grasp, yanked Genma away from the table and held him in the air, lifting the larger man's bulk quite easily.  
  
"Speak up, old man!"  
  
Shampoo was at his side in an instant. "Yes! What you mean? Who other girl?!"  
  
Genma managed to get himself down, them looked at Ranma.  
  
"The arrangment was made before you were born. While me and a good friend of mine were training under Hap-... the Master, we made a vow to unite our schools by marrying you to one of his daughters."  
  
Cologne gave a chuckle, making everyone in the room wince purely from the pitch of the horrendous cackle.  
  
"And how are we to know you're not making this all up?"  
  
Kaze closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. As he spoke he seemed moderately distressed.  
  
"What he says is the truth. He's not lying this time."  
  
Ranma seemed to grow even angrier. "You're telling me I've been engaged since I was BORN?!?!"  
  
Cologne looked quizzicly at the white-robed man. "And how could you know if he is lying or not?"  
  
Rayden came up to the table, finally recovered from the savage staff- beating. "He's psychic. He can tell."  
  
Cologne seemed quite surprised by this statement. She slowly turned her attention toward Ranma, Shampoo and Genma.  
  
  
  
"I've just been engaged to someone I don't even know, and you're just gonna get me off the hook to marry some OTHER girl I don't know?!"  
  
Shampoo made her opinion quite clear. *Glomp* "Shampoo no leave airen! Other girl can find own husband!"  
  
"Boy, this is a matter of honor! You can't throw away your family honor to marry some Amazon bimbo!"  
  
Shampoo was quick to let go of Ranma in favor of smashing the older man over the head repeatedly.  
  
"You no call Shampoo that, fat man!"  
  
"QUIET!!"  
  
Everyone currenly involved in the argument stopped at the sound of Cologne's voice. Shampoo even dropped her bonbori, wich fell out of her hands and onto Genma's skull with a dull *thud*.  
  
Cologne composed herself. "It would appear that there is much debate toward this issue. Very well, you all will stay here until we can resolve this situation. Guide, your work is done, you may return to Jusenkyou."  
  
The guide nodded and hurried out of the village. This little event had been starting to get to him.  
  
Genma wasn't going to back down so easily, however. "There is nothing to discuss! Ranma will marry a Tendo and-"  
  
Cologne shot him a withering glare. He shut up.  
  
All right, maybe he would back down easily.  
  
__________________________________________________________________________ ________  
  
  
  
"So, do you wanna have a little match?"  
  
Brush smiled her cutest smile and tried to lay on the 'hopeful little girl' act as thick as she possibly could.  
  
It ALMOST worked.  
  
  
  
Rayden was about to shrug his shoulders and agree when he quickly remembered what it meant to win a match around here.  
  
'Sheesh. 8 years of accepting a fight with every Joe, Tom, or Bob and here I am hampering that one reflex 'cause of some silly Amazon law.'  
  
Rayden responded in the negative, speaking slowly and shaking his head. "No thank you."  
  
Brush frowned. "You don't have to talk like that. I speak Japanese better than Shampoo."  
  
Rayden blinked, then shrugged. "Oh, sorry. You can never tell."  
  
"So why won't you fight me?"  
  
Rayden thought about that for a moment. "Well, before I answer that, are there any Amazon laws regarding thrown fights?"  
  
Brush blinked. "You wouldn't..."  
  
Rayden turned back towards the group of students practicing with swords. "Yes I would."  
  
Brush crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from him. "I didn't realize that foreigners were such cowards."  
  
Rayden didn't even blink. "I didn't realize Amazons were so weird."  
  
Brush fumed slightly, then regained her composure and looked thoughtful for a moment.  
  
"How about the other one? The man in robes? Is he a fighter?"  
  
Rayden chuckled. "You'd have better luck getting Ranma to fight again than getting him to fight."  
  
Brush blinked. "What if I just attacked him? Or you?"  
  
Rayden turned towards her, one eyebrow raised. "Are you REALLY that desperate?"  
  
In retrospect, that wasn't a very bright thing to say.  
  
*Thwack!*  
  
Brush stalked away from him, muttering in Chinese how outsiders were such creeps.  
  
  
  
Rayden, still cringing from the blow, and the ringing in his ears, slowly removed the metal staff used to strike his head. It was fully bent to the shape of his skull, which earned him some winces of sympathy from some of the sword practicioners.  
  
He looked at the staff critically for a moment, before rolling his eyes and tossing it away.  
  
'Hmph. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. I really oughta listen to Kaze more often.'  
  
__________________________________________________________________________ ________  
  
  
  
Ranma sighed to himself as he watched a group of women practice some kind of punching technique, trying to take his mind off the his current crisis.  
  
  
  
Engaged. He was engaged. If not to this Amazon, who had latched onto him as soon as he had won that fight, to some other girl hundreds of miles away. It was just too much.  
  
Just yesterday he had been happy and single, and now...  
  
Well, he wasn't about to say that marriage was a terrible thing, but he wished he'd actually get to KNOW the girl first.  
  
All he was sure about was that this was all Pop's fault. Unlike certain other people (who will remain nameless. *Cough*AkaneandRyoga*cough*) though, this was based on actual thought and reasoning. And, just like so many of the other messes that the old man had gotten him into, it was up to HIM to clean up.  
  
  
  
Ranma's train of thought was suddenly derailed as two lithe, tightly muscled arms wrapped around his neck, throwing his danger senses for a loop as they broke through his haze of thought. The only thing that kept his "attacker" from being tossed headfirst into the ground was the curvaceous, female body that pressed up against his back, causing him to freeze like a deer in the headlights.  
  
  
  
"Airen! What you doing?" Shampoo asked curiously, glancing at the field and using Ranma's stunned state to reposition herself in his front.  
  
Ranma's brain finally restarted, and he managed to stutter out. "Sh- Shampoo! What are you doing here?"  
  
Shampoo smiled in a way that somehow managed to be unbearably cute and sultry at the same time.  
  
"Shampoo want to spend time with husband! Is okay?"  
  
  
  
Several of the girls that were practicing nearby stopped and left soon after the event had started. Some had left in disgust, some in envy, and most in both.  
  
  
  
Ranma looked very nervous and scratched the back of his head right below his pigtail.  
  
"Um, look, Shampoo, about this whole 'marriage' thing......"  
  
Shampoo looked at him worriedly. "Airen? What wrong? You no worry about other girl, she no get in way!"  
  
Ranma shook his head and tried to gently pry Shampoo off of him, to no avail.  
  
"No, it's just that, well...... aren't we too young for this?"  
  
Shampoo looked at him quizzically, then shook her head. "No, not too young. Many Amazon warriors marry much less age!"  
  
Ranma blinked, then tried a different tactic. "Well, aren't you being forced into this? I mean, I'm not really great marriage material, and the only thing you have is that law-"  
  
Shampoo shook her head again and then snuggled closer to him, rubbing her head under his chin.  
  
"Shampoo want to marry! Is hard to find strong man in village! Ranma too too good for marry!"  
  
Ranma shrunk back, running out of lines and resistance. All that rubbing she was doing was really starting to get to him......  
  
"But we don't even know each other! What if you find out later that you don't like me and then-mmmph!"  
  
  
  
The last part was muffled, due to Shampoo's mouth closing over Ranma's, and locking him once more in a deep, passionate kiss. Shampoo had decided that they had been talking enough and that she should take a step up in convincing her new husband to stay with her.  
  
Ranma's mind was in total chaos. Panic alarms, premonitions of impending doom, logic centers, pure fear, and hormones (a small factor in Ranma's mind, but still a factor) all battled for dominance in his head.  
  
Eventually they were all taken by surprise and stomped on by something considerably more important and influencial: his danger sense.  
  
  
  
Ranma broke the kiss quickly, and shoved Shampoo back off the rock they had been sitting on, he himself rolling off the other side. Shampoo looked surprised as she went rolling onto the ground, but her surprise turned into obvious distress once she got a good look at what was happening.  
  
Ranma was somewhat more surprised as a dozen blades, spears, and one yo- yo crashed into the rock they had been sitting on, crumbling the granite mound to small, grainy chunks. Some of the weapons had chains attached, and those were swiftly pulled from the rock's remains. Ranma tracked the weapons' path back to their owner, and blinked in surprise.  
  
A fairly tall man, in a long, white Chinese robe, and sporting long black hair and thick glasses, glared angrily at the subject of his malice as he stuck his hand out of his robe sleeve, bringing a fan of steel knives along with it.  
  
  
  
"Ranma Saotome! At last, we meet! I've been searching for you ever since I heard!"  
  
Ranma blinked, then adopted a casual stance. "A little more to the right, and you'll have found me." Ranma wondered who this guy was. Judging from the way Shampoo was groaning, he was probably bad news, at any rate.  
  
The man seemed to blink, then oriented on the voice, taking his view away from the tree he was yelling at.  
  
"So you are the outsider which has defeated my Shampoo. It figures that I'd find you here, already seducing another woman!" the man yelled in fury.  
  
Ranma blinked, snuck a glance at Shampoo to make sure she wasn't really someone else, then turned back toward his attacker.  
  
"Um, I really don't know what you're talking about."  
  
The boy growled. "Don't lie to me, you foriegn filth! For forcing yourself upon my Shampoo, and then taking this other woman, you will die!"  
  
Shampoo had had enough. "Idiot! Shampoo is 'other woman'!"  
  
The boy blinked. "What? Shampoo? Is that you?"  
  
Shampoo turned to Ranma, and gave him an exasperated sigh. "Stupid boy is Mousse. He have bad eyesight."  
  
Ranma nodded. "I can tell."  
  
Mousse growled again. "Enough of this! I'll kill you here and now, and in front of Shampoo! At last I'll prove my love to her!"  
  
Ranma raised an eyebrow, and the whole situation mapped itself out in his mind.  
  
"Ah, well, far be it for me to stand in the way of a happy couple......"  
  
Shampoo immediately glomped onto him. "No! Shampoo rather die than marry Mousse! You fight him?"  
  
  
  
Ranma didn't even have time to mutter "what?" before he forced to jump back, avoiding what appeared to be a baseball covered in spikes.  
  
"Hey, watch it buster! Or else you're really gonna get it!"  
  
Mousse smirked. "Big words, but I don't see any action. Are you gonna talk or fight?"  
  
That did it. "All right, but you asked for it! HYAAAA!"  
  
  
  
As Shampoo cheered, Mousse started to have second thoughts about this fight as Ranma gave him a crescent kick which knocked him back into the air. Ranma helped him down again by catching the Chinese boy in mid-air and slamming him into the ground hard, a manuever quite unusual for any martial artist.  
  
Ranma backed off, crossing his arms over his chest.  
  
"Give it up, man. We're fighting over nothing, anyway. There's no reason that you have to get beaten up any more."  
  
Shampoo looked indignant. "What you mean Shampoo is nothing?"  
  
Ranma backed away from her, his arms waving in a warding gesture. "No, I didn't mean it like that, it's just that-"  
  
His excuse, but thankfully not his head, was cut off by a flying scyth blade that came just inches from Ranma's neck. He turned back to the Chinese boy angrily.  
  
"All right, that's enough! The kid gloves are off!"  
  
Mousse growled as he continued throwing more knives and spears in Ranma's direction.  
  
"Ha! I'll have you on the ground begging for mercy, you womanizer!"  
  
In truth, Mousse knew there was no way he could keep this up. His guard had been breached too early in the fight, and that single throw to the ground had taken more out of him than he'd ever admit.  
  
  
  
Ranma grunted as he dodged the seemingly endless stream of blades and chains, then leapt up into the air. Mousse redirected his aim accordingly, but had significantly more trouble, as the glare of the sun drastically affected his already abyssmal aim.  
  
Not that it would have mattered. Ranma seemed to hang in the air, defying gravity as a blue aura flared to life around him.  
  
He spread his hands out, and small beams of blue energy emenated from out of nowhere, finding a path to Ranma's open hands and collecting into twin spheres of blue. Lightning seemed to arc its way along Ranma's arms as he brought his hands together, the two orbs absorbing each other into one greater whole.  
  
"Himei ramei denko!" he screamed, and then started his descent to the ground, as a large blue arrow rocketed toward Mousse.  
  
Those weapons that had actually been aimed correctly were burned in the passing of the projectile, crumbling in mid-air and falling to the Earth.  
  
Mousse only had time to blink and make sure that his glasses were on before the ki blast hit home, creating a small dome of blue-white energy on impact.  
  
And then, in seconds, the dome receded and disappeared, leaving a charred and burnt Mousse behind in the middle of a 12-foot crater.  
  
  
  
Shampoo was speechless. Never before had she seen anything like this, not even from her great-grandmother. She knew what it was though, she'd had enough lessons on battle auras to know that it was a ki blast.  
  
As Ranma stared at the crater and wondered if he had overdone it, Shampoo stared in awe at him. He must be incredibly skilled to do anything close to what she had seen. Cologne would definitely be VERY unhappy if she let him get away.  
  
Therefore...... *Glomp*  
  
"Airen! You beat Mousse! Shampoo so happy!"  
  
And then he was back, the bumbling, stuttering Ranma that she found so strange yet utterly adorable.  
  
"Uh, huh, yeah, I-I guess I did."  
  
"Mousse always bothering Shampoo for date. But he no bother if Ranma marry Shampoo! Is okay?"  
  
"Uhhhh......" Ranma just stood there, totally unsure of how to respond to that question.  
  
  
  
Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, he was saved from explanation when a bright light flared up over Mousse's still form. The light receded and then opened up, forming a reddish-black vortex roughly 5 feet in diameter.  
  
  
  
Shampoo was confused, but had the peace of mind to use the situation to grab Ranma even tighter.  
  
Ranma just scowled, knowing perfectly well what the odd distortion was.  
  
  
  
The portal just flickered and pulsed for a moment, then small arcs of red lightning shot out of it, spreading across the surface of the distortion and announcing the arrival of whatever was on the other side.  
  
  
  
Then it came. One thick, brown pillar of hardened flesh came down from the swirling mass of energy, missing Mousse's head by mere inches. A second foot came, and soon a body formed from the portal, which faded into nothingness, leaving its passenger behind.  
  
  
  
It was at least 9 feet tall, and covered in a hide that looked like hardened brown leather. Its right arm ended in a swollen claw like that of a lobster, while its left connected to a clawed hand with a pair of wrist blades attached. In its head were set two glowing crimson eyes, but the creature lacked any nose, ears, or mouth. The only thing that could come close were several vents cut into the flesh that encircled its thick neck.  
  
  
  
The thing took a step forward. Ranma and Shampoo both took up battle stances, though Shampoo was doing it more out of reflex than anything else. She had never seen anything like the creature that she was looking at now; even the bird people of Mount Pheonix held no comparison to the pure unnatural sense that this monster exuded.  
  
  
  
The creature took another step forward, then its eyes narrowed as it looked at Ranma.  
  
It spoke. A deep, echoing, gravely voice which made you wonder which part of the beast was emitting the sound.  
  
"You. Do you know of the White Star?"  
  
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Maybe. What's it to you?"  
  
The creature looked at him, then started slowly forward. "To not trifle with me, human. My name is Rail. I have come to kill the survivors of the White Star. If you cooperate, I will spare everyone else here. If you don't, then......"  
  
The monster looked toward the sky, letting the threat hang. Ranma wasn't impressed.  
  
  
  
"Hmm. How about... NO!"  
  
Ranma shot forward with a kick, catching Rail completely off guard. As it fell back, Ranma lashed out with two more quick kicks before hitting it with a roundhouse that knocked it on its back.  
  
Shampoo was quick to follow Ranma's example, pulling her twin bonbori from Kami-knows-where and smashing the demon's skull as it attempted to get up. She caught a flash of blue light behind her and leapt away as Ranma yelled.  
  
"Himei ramei denko!" a smaller, more concentrated ball of energy flew towards Rail, striking him in the side and blowing off chunks of his exoskeleton.  
  
The creature let out a rumbling shriek, then slowly got up off the ground, orange-red blood running from his open wound.  
  
Rail glared at Ranma, who didn't even blink back. Then the wounded area of his body was engulfed in blue flame, which soon faded to reveal perfectly untouched skin.  
  
  
  
Ranma let out a low growl. 'So this thing regenerates. Great. Looks like I'll have to pull out the heavy artillery.'  
  
Rail swung his pincer over to point at Ranma, then opened it, revealing an array of oddly shaped organs inside. One of them opened slightly, a red bolt of fire shot out, followed by several others.  
  
Ranma dodged the bolts quickly, slowly advancing with each jump as the demon continued to fire.  
  
Rail's assault came to a premature end when a heavy metal ball hit him atop his skull. Momentarily stunned, he was in no condition to avoid Ranma's uppercut, which sent him sprawling back a few more feet.  
  
"Tobu kaibutsu semeru!" Ranma's image blurred as he rushed the monster, laying on punch after punch until he tripped up the beast with a leg sweep. Ranma then attacked upwards, somehow managing to travel up into the air as he punched the larger creature again and again, until he reached the apex of his flight and then aimed a kick at his opponent.  
  
His aura flared to life, and Ranma's leg was engulfed in white fire as rocketed toward Rail, once again displaying a total disregard for physics.  
  
Rail hit the Earth hard, shattering the surrounding rock and creating large cracks in the ground.  
  
Ranma backflipped away, then his aura lit up again. "Himei ramei denko!!" four bolts of energy shot out from his hands, impacting Rail one after another.  
  
  
  
Ranma landed on one foot, then crossed his arms over his chest as he looked at the smoking crater.  
  
"Feh. He wasn't so tough."  
  
Shampoo approached cautiously from behind. "Is dead now?"  
  
Ranma turned to Shampoo, and was about to answer in the affirmative, when the sound of erupting fire came again, and Ranma turned back toward the crater to see an unharmed Rail standing up.  
  
"No way!"  
  
Rail let out a grunt. "You cannot defeat me, human, for every time you strike me down, I will be revived!"  
  
Rail pointed his claw and opened it, and a yellow beam shot out, just barely missing Ranma as he took off to the side with Shampoo in tow.  
  
  
  
"Where we going?" Shampoo asked worriedly. She had little idea of what was going on, and even less idea of how to solve it. If you couldn't kill your enemy, then what?  
  
Ranma grimaced as he dodged a spiked grappler attached to a cable. "To find Kaze. He might know how to get rid of this guy."  
  
  
  
Behind them, Rail growled as he reeled in his grappler, then slowly started to pursue the retreating pair.  
  
__________________________________________________________________________ ________  
  
  
  
"Hey Kaze!" Kaze turned at Rayden's voice, cutting off his conversation with one of the town's Amazon healers. From Rayden's face, the young priest couldn't tell if he was panicked or excited.  
  
"Yes, master Shikodan?"  
  
Rayden simply pointed off into the distance, where flashes of red a blue could be seen.  
  
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say those were energy blasts." Rayden smirked.  
  
Kaze nodded. "It would appear so. Sink, perhaps we can continue this conversation later."  
  
The healer nodded, but looked curiously at the distant lights as the two men ran off.  
  
__________________________________________________________________________ ________  
  
  
  
"Ah! There they are!" Ranma yelled, as he and Shampoo ran towards the village outskirts.  
  
  
  
Rayden slowed down as Ranma and Shampoo approached, the latter slightly winded from trying to keep up with the former.  
  
"Hey Ranma, what's with the bright lights?"  
  
Ranma grimaced. "There's something back there. Some kinda demon called Rail. I'm not sure how he does it, but somehow he keeps regenerating."  
  
  
  
Rayden blinked, then shook his head as he unsheathed his sword. "What do you mean 'it kept regenerating'? Why didn't you just blow it apart?"  
  
"I DID. It just lit up in flames and then he came back, without a scratch on him. Kaze, any ideas?"  
  
Kaze thought for a moment. "I'd really have to see the creature first......"  
  
A low rumble came from the nearby woods.  
  
"Easily solved!"  
  
  
  
They all turned at the voice, and Rail leapt out of the surrounding trees, aiming to land right in the center of the small group.  
  
  
  
He never made it, mostly because he slammed into an invisible wall about 13 feet over his intended target.  
  
  
  
Shampoo stared dumbly as the demon slid down the barrier, leaving light, translucent blue ripples in his path. She turned to see Kaze with his arms outstretched, and his hands emitting a soft blue glow.  
  
  
  
"Master Shikodan, master Saotome, I believe now would be an excellent time to demonstrate this creature's regenerative capabilities."  
  
Shampoo had no idea what he had said, but he had said it so calmly that she was totally surprised when Ranma launched himself forward, passing through the shield and kicking Rail onto his back.  
  
Rayden came next, stabbing deep into the demon's chest, then swiveling his blade to the side and cutting a deep gouge into the creature.  
  
  
  
They all stood back as Rail promply combusted, spewing gouts of blue fire among his leathery body. Then he was up again, already aiming his claw at Rayden, who quickly cut it off.  
  
  
  
Kaze ignored the beast's enraged roar as he called out to Ranma.  
  
"Master Saotome! I sense a link between this creature and the elemental plane! We'll need an equally strong spiritual power to banish the creature!"  
  
Ranma ground Rail's head into the ground with a ki-enhanced punch. "Any ideas?"  
  
Kaze grimaced. "The only area of that sort that I know of is Jusenkyou."  
  
Rayden spoke as he stomped Rail's head into the ground. "Great. Just freakin' great. Next thing you know one of us will turn into a badger or something."  
  
  
  
Shampoo didn't understand a majority of what had just been said, but she did understand the word "Jusenkyou".  
  
"Shampoo know way to Jusenkyou, is through village! You follow!" Shampoo took off, with the others close behind.  
  
  
  
Rail erupted from the ground, and aura of blue fire raging around him. The aura receded, and Rail turned furious, blood-red eyes toward his retreating targets.  
  
"Bio cannon!!" Rail aimed his claw at the retreating figures, and a thick, black and brown ooze shot out at them.  
  
  
  
Ranma looked back just in time to yell "Look out!" then he grabbed Shampoo and jumped away.  
  
Kaze quickly generated a force field around himself, the vile substance sliding harmlessly against the soft blue barrier.  
  
Rayden wasn't so lucky, and got tagged on his left arm with the strange goo.  
  
  
  
The slime bubbled and smoked against his trench coat, eating through the soft leather and sticking to the flesh underneath. Rayden's attempts to remove the stuff resulted only in him getting it on his hands, the slimy acid melting through his gloves and burning his hands.  
  
Rayden began to start thrashing about wildly, desperate to remove the blackish ooze. Rail pointed his claw at him, and through the thin crack that marked the opening, a reddish haze started to shine.  
  
"Ramez kazash!!" Rail screamed, and then he opened his claw, letting a thick blood red beam rocket toward Rayden, who noticed too late.  
  
  
  
The swordsman was thrown backward by a beam of pure force, crashing straight through the outer wall of the palisade that protected the Amazon village and hurtling through one of the buildings, his flight being completed when he crushed one family's dinner table.  
  
The Amazons who owned the house simply stared dumbly at the intruder, who immediately got up, and started yelling something in Japanese about burns. Eventually he noticed a bucket of water near the table, and quickly doused himself with it, sighing the whole time. Then he turned and returned the Amazons stare, feeling quite awkward.  
  
  
  
The moment was, for better or for worse, shattered when Rail stepped through the hole he had made and looked at Rayden, raising his claw to the attack.  
  
"My, you're a tough one. This job isn't turning out to be as easy as I expected."  
  
Rayden yanked his sword out of the table that it had become embedded in.  
  
"Yeah, don't you just hate that?" Rayden smirked and brought his sword on guard, ready to deflect any energy attacks that came his way.  
  
Rail surprised him though, as his claw blew out gouts of fire, forcing Rayden to back off and getting the Amazons to abandon their house.  
  
Rail only took a step forward before he was struck from behind, knocking him flat on his face.  
  
  
  
"Rayden, you all right?"  
  
"I'm fine Ranma, let's get out of here!"  
  
  
  
Outside, a rather large group of Amazons were collecting outside the ruined hut, as flame spewed from the windows and the ceiling started to collapse.  
  
Cologne made her entrance on the scene, looking quite comical bouncing in on her gnarled wooden staff. She took one look at the crumbling house and asked what happened.  
  
  
  
Before anyone could reply, one of the walls of the hut exploded outward, and Ranma and Rayden came out, immediately taking to the rooftops and running. An even larger explosion rocked the area after that, as Rail shot out of the house surrounded by flames, courtesy of his all-purpose pincer. Rail took off after Ranma and Rayden, but opted to simply plow through the houses instead of bothering with rooftops.  
  
Cologne blinked.  
  
Kaze quickly moved through the crowd, passing by Cologne as he followed Rail's trail of destruction.  
  
Shampoo was following close behind Kaze, but was nearly toppled over when Cologne suddenly stopped her momentum. Shampoo turned to her great- grandmother, a look of panic and desperation in her eyes.  
  
  
  
"Child, what is going on here?"  
  
"Is terrible! Monster attack airen! Airen kill but monster no die!"  
  
Cologne blinked and decided that she'd have to give Shampoo another crash course in Japanese soon. Then her mind finished analyzing the situation as another building exploded from Rail crashing through it.  
  
"Do you know where they are heading to?"  
  
"Yes, they go Jusenkyou!"  
  
Cologne nodded and then gestured to several nearby warriors. With another nod, they all started to follow the moving battle.  
  
__________________________________________________________________________ ________  
  
  
  
"Ranma, how close is he?"  
  
Ranma looked behind him as they jumped the outer palisade on the other side of the village (well, Ranma jumped it. Rayden just sort of crashed into it and knocked down the gate).  
  
"He's coming, but he's not gaining!"  
  
Rayden slowed down enough to look behind him and see Rail come through another building, fire trailing from his swollen claw. Rail slowed down a bit to fire a volley of fireballs behind him, and Rayden almost started laughing when he saw that the demon's back was covered in arrows.  
  
  
  
Rail gave a snort through his ring of breathing pits, then started off after Rayden and Ranma again, the soft Earth trembling slightly at his heavy footsteps.  
  
  
  
"So which way to Jusenkyou? And what exactly do we do once we get there?"  
  
Ranma looked at him for a moment, jumped over an acid blast, then replied in a defeated tone.  
  
"I have no clue, and beats me."  
  
Rayden scowled, then winced as a fireball hit him on the back. He patted out the flames quickly as he continued running.  
  
"Well that's just swell. How're we gonna ditch this thing?"  
  
  
  
Then, as if in answer to their pleas, a fairly large bird composed totally of fire flew overhead, then turned slightly west.  
  
Ranma and Rayden blinked, then quickly followed the bird.  
  
  
  
*Thwoom* *Thwoom* *Kablaaaaam!!!*  
  
"Get back here, maggots!"  
  
Rail said it menacingly enough, but it really didn't help him stop his targets, who seemed to be running just slowly enough so that he could keep up......  
  
Rail would've sighed if he could've spared the breath. This hadn't turned out at all like he had planned. This was supposed to be a quick job: warp in, kill the two guys, warp out. Then he would get a nice long vacation which he had planned to spend wreaking havoc and burning down major cities. Instead, the jerks just had to be more powerful than he was. He simply couldn't understand it. No human could possibly be capable of the things that these two apparently did with ease.  
  
But that was pure speculation. In the long run, it came down to this: they could (and with any luck, would) die; he couldn't. At least not on this plane. They would tire; he'd be engulfed in flames, then come back feeling like a million yen. Simple as that.  
  
So why did he have such a bad feeling all of a sudden?  
  
  
  
Rayden leapt up over the trees, catching a quick glimpse of the area far up ahead before landing on his feet and running. Ranma slowed down slightly to compensate, then waited for an update.  
  
"Jusenkyou's just ahead!"  
  
Ranma nodded and pushed through the last group of trees......  
  
And almost fell into a pool of water as he felt grass and moss give way to air. Panicking, he grabbed hold of one of the bamboo poles sticking out of the spring with one hand, then grabbed Rayden with the other, as the swordsman started plummeting towards the cursed water below.  
  
Muttering a thanks, Rayden escaped the spring with Ranma, then got a good distance away before turning back.  
  
  
  
Rail came crashing through the trees, intent on ripping the two fighters to shreds. He didn't really notice the spring until it was too late. He didn't notice the bamboo poles either, not that they would've held something of his mass. Rail plummeted into the waters, making a large splash which leaked into the surrounding pools.  
  
  
  
Ranma snapped his fingers.  
  
"Duh! If he's a chipmunk or something, we can kill him easily! And even if he still can't be killed, we could just lock him up somewhere where he can't get hot water!"  
  
Rayden smacked a fist into his palm in realization. "Of course, of course! That must be it!"  
  
  
  
Suddenly, arcs of black lightning shot forth from the waters of the spring, and Rail's bladed hand came out, gripping the softened Earth as the hefty demon pulled the rest of his bulk out of the cursed waters.  
  
He was unchanged, save for a blackened aura, which seemed to dissipate as the water slid off his hardened skin.  
  
  
  
Rayden just sighed. "Or maybe not."  
  
  
  
Rail growled as he shook the rest of the water off himself. "Pitiful humans. Did you really think you could get rid of me so easily? My kind cannot be harmed by such weak magics! Die!"  
  
Rail pointed and opened his claw, and was about to fire off another energy blast, when the bird of fire bore down on him from out of nowhere, brushing its flaming wings across the monster's leathery hide. Rail was instantly disoriented, and quickly tried to ward the creature away with his wrist blades.  
  
  
  
On the sidelines, Ranma and Rayden watched the battle tensely.  
  
"Think we should help?"  
  
"Why bother? Even if we kill it, it's just come back! We could be fighting for days!"  
  
Ranma reluctantly nodded. The situation looked grim.  
  
  
  
And then, like a beacon of hope, a shout came from the other end of the springs. Ranma and Rayden turned to see Kaze and the Jusenkyou guide, the former panting from the run and the latter with his eyes wide from shock.  
  
Kaze yelled to them urgently.  
  
"Masters! Hit the demon into an uncursed spring! Quickly!"  
  
Rayden blinked. "What good will that do? Even a cursed spring doesn't help!"  
  
Kaze took a few more deep breaths, then yelled out again. "Please! You must trust me!"  
  
Rayden shrugged. It wasn't like he had any better ideas.  
  
Ranma yelled out, "Which spring is uncursed?!"  
  
  
  
Kaze pointed, and Ranma could immediately tell what the target was. Unlike the other springs, this one was overgrown with plants and grass. The bamboo sticking out of it was healthy and green, and the whole thing was partially hidden by foliage.  
  
Ranma nodded to Rayden, who grinned in response. Then they both heard a shriek, and their eyes darted back to the battle, where the bird composed of flames was on the ground, with black stripes of ashes marking its body's wounds. Rail stood over the fiery avian, triumphant.  
  
  
  
"A nice distraction, but now you die."  
  
Rayden sheathed his sword and clapped his gloves together to remove the dirt.  
  
"I don't think so big guy. You've got a one-way ticket to oblivion."  
  
Rail's eyes narrowed. "I'm not going anywhere."  
  
Rayden gave him a flat stare. "And who said you had a choice? Okiru hebi takurru!"  
  
  
  
Rayden shot forward like a rocket, totally shocking Rail to the point that he forgot to move. Rayden slammed into him, sending both of them carreening through Jusenkyou.  
  
As soon as Rayden's foot found the ground again Rail found himself airborn, with Rayden still holding onto his waist. The swordsman pushed away slightly, and his hand slipped to the handle of his sword.  
  
*Shing!* *Shing!* *Pow!!*  
  
Rayden slashed the larger creature twice, then sent him flying away with a powerful kick to the head on a flight path that just happened to be between Ranma and the uncursed spring......  
  
  
  
Ranma's aura lit up like a halo of fire, blue energy totally surrounding him. He concentrated for a moment, and then his aura turned from an electric blue to a fiery red.  
  
Ranma opened his eyes, then thrust his palms toward the spring.  
  
"RYU HI KOSEN!!"  
  
  
  
Energy branched out from all around him, quickly gathering in his palms and shooting forth, taking on the shape of a dragon's head. Just after it was released the blast stopped, and the dragon head opened it huge maw, letting loose an Earth-shattering roar before it continued onward, tearing up everything in its path, dirt and water alike.  
  
At that moment, Rail just happened to come sailing by, and was struck head-on by the massive blast, tearing up the creature instantly and sending him sailing into the spring, which, miraculously, was not totally destroyed.  
  
  
  
The water bubbled and frothed as its magic took effect, imprinting the design of the monster it had just taken in and sending that same creature to its final resting place.  
  
A conflict in magical energies took place. Jusenkyou's powerful magic battled the demon's supernatural energies.  
  
Eventually both just said "screw it" and declared the match a draw. This had the dual effect of leaving the demon alive, but terminating the link that was keeping it on the mortal plane. In a flash of blue and black, Rail was gone.  
  
  
  
Back up above, Ranma had deactivated his aura, and he, Rayden and Kaze were all watching the spring closely to watch for any visible effects.  
  
Then they got what they were looking for. There was a huge flash of blue light, and Kaze jolted backward.  
  
  
  
"Hey, Kaze, you all right?"  
  
Kaze shook his head to clear it.  
  
"Yes master Shikodan, I'm all right. The demon is gone."  
  
Ranma grinned and gave Rayden a high-five. "All right! Chalk up another one for our team!"  
  
Kaze continued. "In addition, many of the spirits haunting this area have left. I think our 'sacrifice' of the demon appeased them."  
  
Rayden blinked. "Well....... that's nice...... I guess."  
  
Ranma shrugged and started to head back towards the village.  
  
"I'm starved. Let's get back. Maybe they'll give us a victory feast!"  
  
"We're not going back, boy!"  
  
"GAAAAAH!!" *POW!!*  
  
Genma's sudden appearance shocked Ranma, who pounded him into the ground out of sheer reflex.  
  
  
  
"Don't sneak up on me! You know I hate that!"  
  
"If... y-you were... a real marrrrtial a-artist...... that w-wouldn't have h-happened...... owie......"  
  
Rayden walked up to Genma and lifted him up with one hand.  
  
"Yeah, whatever. Why can't we go back?"  
  
Genma collected his wits (it didn't take long) and smacked Rayden's hand away, then spoke in an irritated tone of voice.  
  
"Fool! You just destroyed half the village in your little jog! You think they're going to reward you?!"  
  
  
  
Rayden thought about this for a moment. Then he turned to Ranma. "Shoot. He's right. We'd be executed. If we were lucky."  
  
Kaze had his doubts about an execution, but still didn't want to know how angry they were about all the damage.  
  
Ranma shook his head. "Damn. I guess you're right. But we shouldn't just run away like this!"  
  
Genma shrugged on his backpack and looked away. "I'm leaving now. If you want to come, follow me."  
  
  
  
Not for the first time, Ranma cursed his father for his cowardice. But in the end, the old man did have the last say. Ranma sometimes wondered why he ever listened to the old panda.  
  
Ranma blinked at his own thought. 'Hmm. Old panda. Has sort of a ring to it.'  
  
Ranma looked again at where Kaze and Rayden were tending to the fallen fire bird.  
  
  
  
Kaze swept his glowing hands over the creature's blazing feathers, whispering soft words of comfort. The avian seemed to understand him perfectly, becoming calmer as he spoke. At last the healing was done, and the bird perched itself on Kaze's shoulder.  
  
Kaze raised his palm to face the fire bird.  
  
"Phoenix, return to your plane of fire. Your work is done."  
  
The phoenix glowed white for a moment, then disappeared, leaving only scorch marks on Kaze's robes as evidence of its existence.  
  
"Yo Kaze, let's get a move on! Saotome's leaving!"  
  
Kaze nodded, then stopped as he turned to follow Rayden. He looked at Jusenkyou for a moment, uttered a soft prayer, then swiftly left to catch up with the others.  
  
__________________________________________________________________________ ________  
  
  
  
Not more than 3 minutes after they had left, a small army of Amazon warriors arrived at Jusenkyou, only to find nothing but the guide vainly trying to tidy up a huge trench burned into the ground. Cologne hopped forward on her stick, and tapped the man on the shoulder.  
  
/"Guide! What happened? Where is the demon?"/  
  
The guide looked up... er, down, at her, then adjusted his green cap and answered.  
  
/"The demon is gone. Those men that I brought to the village destroyed it."/  
  
Cologne seemed surprised by this. /"Well then, come back to the village. I want some details."/  
  
The guide obliged, glad to leave the task of massive landmoving for later.  
  
  
  
Later, about 5 minutes after everyone had left......  
  
  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"  
  
*Goosh*  
  
  
  
End Chapter 2  
  
************************************************************************** ********  
  
Author's Notes:  
  
All right, here's a handy overlook at each character's abilities, since I know you're all wondering just what they've learned and how powerful they are. I've also included their special techniques. With the exception of Kaze's stuff, I'll use the Japanese translations of the moves, because they usually sound cooler. Keep in mind that I hardly know any Japanese, though, and that I'm using a Japanese/English dictionary to translate, so I know that some translations will be wrong. If you know the real translations, please contact me and tell me what they are.  
  
  
  
Ranma: As always, Ranma's abilities mainly constitute speed and skill, though he's still really strong. A change is that Ranma had to learn to fight demons early on, and soon discovered that pure martial arts really didn't cut it sometimes. He started integrating rougher techniques into his arsenal, as well as learning how to manipulate ki from Kaze, who uses it for healing. After that Ranma trained extensively with ki, learning how to manipulate it more efficiently and channel it more easily. When fighting the supernatural, energy attacks are usually his primary assault method.  
  
Himei ramei denko - Screaming Thunder Missile. Your basic, no-nonsense ki blast. Can be concentrated for extra damage in a smaller area.  
  
Ryu hi kosen - Dragon Fire Beam. By condensing his aura, Ranma can actually fuse it with his soul, and fire those prime energies like ki blast. Exremely deadly, plus it tracks down the target. Naturally, it's also really draining, and is never used if he'll have to fight more after he uses it.  
  
Tobu kaibutsu semeru - Flying Demon Attack. A series of attacks that drives an enemy upward, then is finished off with a ki-powered kick that drives the opponent into the ground.  
  
Hachi tobu ha semeru - Wasp's Flying Blade Strike. Ranma jumps into the air and creates long energy blades with his arms which shoot toward his targets.  
  
  
  
Rayden: Rayden is similar to Ryoga in that he relies mostly on strength and a ridiculous constitution rather than speed. Rayden is a master with a sword, though he only uses one; the one that he always carries around with him. Without his sword, he is limited to basic punching and kicking, plus some nasty wrestling moves. Of course, this is all useless if the target is any faster than he is. On that note, Rayden usually does well against anything that's slower than he is; anything faster than him he has to fight with his sword, and if that person/thing is capable of disarming him (like Ranma) than he's in trouble. Rayden's only mastered the basics in channeling ki energy from Kaze, and really hasn't taken the time to hone his skills. He can direct the flow of energy well enough, but can't do anything in the way of controlling or regulating the attack.  
  
Shine kurai ha - Death's Shadow Blade. Your basic cut-'em-up-really-fast move. Does a lot of damage to a single target, and doesn't exhaust him too much.  
  
Jishin - Shockwave. Rayden basically lets loose a wall of ki energy in his direction of choice. This move is really only good for stunning, as it's about as strong as a powerful wind and incapable of harming anything more durable than the average human being. Also very draining.  
  
Okiru hebi takurru - Rising Viper Tackle. Rayden rushes forward and tackles the enemy, then jumps up with him. From there he can execute a number of techniques and combos.  
  
Iczer Beam (No translation; explained later). Rayden's regular ki blast. An inefficient, but still remarkably destructive beam of energy. Very taxing.  
  
  
  
Kaze: Kaze is a defender, not a fighter, though many of his talents would suit either just as well. Kaze's abilities include rapid healing, which includes mending broken bones in seconds, patching up (some) fatal wounds before the patient bleeds to death, and curing some really nasty diseases. He can create impenatrable shields out of ki, though his energy drops the longer he has to keep the shield up or the more damage the shield absorbs. He can write out spirit wards that have a variety of effects, including explosive and electric damage. He has limited telepathy, and knows a few other spells, most of which involve manipulating spirits. He also knows three summoning spells: he can summon a phoenix, an ice sprite, and a fairy. 


	3. The Nerima Massacre! Enter Bit and Rotor...

Nexus  
  
Chapter 3  
  
a Ranma 1/2 fanfiction  
  
by Black Dragon  
  
revcoll@peoplepc.com  
  
http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/fanficlair/index.html  
  
  
  
Standard disclaimer applies. Okay, you know the drill. I don't own Ranma, I don't own Urusei Yatsura, yadda, yadda, yadda. The only people I own are those that you don't recognize and make the real witty comments throughout the story. If they're not witty, then they're someone else's fault. I don't get paid for this, so what would be the point of suing me?  
  
  
  
Chapter 3  
  
The Nerima Massacre! Enter Bit and Rotor!  
  
*************************************************************************** *******  
  
  
  
"Himei ramei denko!"  
  
A blue bolt of energy slammed into the black armor plates, sending arcs of power spreading across the metal surface.  
  
The animated suit of armor stumbled for a moment, and then collapsed, its jointed metal plates joining the steel broadsword and heavy tower shield in a messy heap.  
  
  
  
Ranma leapt over the remains of the last reaper, then came down on the next one in a flying kick, knocking it back before it could raise its shield. This brought it right under Rayden, who cleaved the creature cleanly in two with a single vertical slash of his sword.  
  
  
  
Everyone who happened upon the battle was soon to leave the area, or at least seek shelter from the large suits of black armor that moved without anybody inside. The fact that the wristguards weren't attached to anything and floated in the air was testament to that fact.  
  
  
  
Genma stood back on the sidelines with Kaze, shouting suggestions along with the occasional bit of moral support.  
  
  
  
Ranma disarmed one of the reapers, knocking its sword away with a well placed kick, before landing 8 punches right in the creature's chest. It reeled back from the force of the blows, and stumbled to a halt right in front of the two spectators.  
  
Kaze raised his arm, and a yellow globe of light formed in his hand.  
  
"Soul Biter!" A pale snake-like ribbon of light blasted forth from the ground and passed through the demon, which gave one final shudder before collapsing into a pile of scrap.  
  
  
  
Rayden parried two blows from his opponent with his sword, then made a horizontal slash at his target, cutting the sword and shield in half in a single strike. Then he reached for the helmet floating above the breastplate and crushed it in his hands, letting the rest of the armor fall into a neat little pile in front of him.  
  
  
  
Ranma ducked under the last one's sword, and swept the legs out from under it. The greaves were knocked away from the rest of the creature, clattering to the side. Ranma stared for a moment, and then barely managed to avoid decapitation as the steel demon swung its sword at him.  
  
Cursing silently, he grabbed the thing's breastplate, slapped his palm against it, then discharged a lethal blast of ki at point blank range.  
  
  
  
Ranma dusted off his hands as he walked away from the molten pile of slag.  
  
  
  
"Boy, I'm very disappointed in you!"  
  
Ranma groaned inwardly. He would have groaned outwardly, but he really didn't want to give his father the satisfaction.  
  
"That thing nearly killed you! Haven't I taught you better than that? Oh, why am I cursed to have such-" *Wham!*  
  
  
  
Ranma growled, and removed his fist from Genma's head. "Say that when you're not hiding behind Kaze the whole fight old man!"  
  
"You show some respect for your father Ranma!"  
  
"I will when you do something worth respectin'!"  
  
  
  
The few spectators left collectively sweatdropped as they watched father and son come to blows.  
  
This was nothing new to Rayden, who took the opportunity to bring his foot down on Genma's head.  
  
  
  
"Yo, old man, weren't we goin' somewhere?"  
  
  
  
Genma, after recovering from the blow, immediately brightened.  
  
"Ah yes, the Tendos! Come on boy, you'll just love your new fiancee!"  
  
"I though you said you didn't know her," Ranma said dryly.  
  
Genma sweatdropped. "Well, Tendo often spoke highly of her in the letters he sent me!"  
  
"But with them being his daughters, wouldn't he have a biased opinion?" offered Kaze.  
  
Ranma frowned. "How could this Tendo guy have sent you any letters? We've never stayed in a single place long enough to get any mail."  
  
Genma's left eye twitched, and he suddenly spun around.  
  
"All right! I lied! I've never met her, I've never seen her, and for all I know she could be the worst bride ever to step up to an altar!!"  
  
Genma turned back around.  
  
"All right, their house should just be around the bend."  
  
  
  
Ranma, Rayden, and Kaze didn't follow immediately, due to the fact they were still frozen in shock.  
  
".......... Geez........." Rayden muttered.  
  
"I don't like the looks of this," Kaze added.  
  
"Man, I think I liked him better when he just lied until he could change the subject." Ranma finished.  
  
  
  
The trio walked after the large man, thoroughly ignoring the murmers of the crowd behind them.  
  
"Did you see tha - He came and crushed - There were at least ten of them - Weird armor suits - They threw lightning - That priest guy called up a spirit - So powerful - The guy with the pigtail is hot - Love the trench coat, wonder where I can get one - Must be from Furinkan -" All the spectators nodded at the last comment, then forgot about the whole occurence and went about their daily, not-so-normal lives.  
  
  
  
It didn't take long before rain suddenly poured from the remarkably clear sky.  
  
"What the-" Ranma looked up, only to nearly drown as the onpour continued.  
  
Rayden pulled up the collar on his trench coat and grimaced. "Sheesh, it was completely clear just a minute ago......"  
  
Kaze nodded. "A bad omen. I don't believe things are going to go well."  
  
"Growf," Genma added.  
  
  
  
The three young men turned to look at the panda, and all of them had to bite their tongues to keep from laughing.  
  
Genma growled and held up a sign. [I can't show up at the Tendo's like this! Get me some hot water!]  
  
Rayden stopped giggling and smirked. "Well, they're gonna find out eventually, so why not just go in as is?"  
  
Ranma nodded. "He's got a point."  
  
  
  
Genma shook his fat, furry head relentlessly. [No way! There's gotta be some way keep this a secret!]  
  
  
  
Kaze suddenly looked thoughtful. "All right then, let's try this."  
  
Genma blinked, as Kaze raised his arms while his hands started to glow a bright yellow.  
  
Kaze's eyes closed and he started to chant an incantation. "Lord of spirits, holy light amidst a sea of darkness, banish this vengeful soul, and purge it from its shell!"  
  
  
  
Genma, to his surprise and terror, started to glow brightly, before his entire form was enveloped in white light. The light collected on him, and then formed a pillar which shot up into the sky.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Somewhere not very far away:  
  
  
  
"Urgh! Damn it!"  
  
Ataru Moroboshi cursed loudly as he dragged himself on the ground, his thoroughly electro-shocked muscles refusing to bend easily. Finally having crawled his way to the railing of a bridge, he lay panting and cursing as he got his strength back.  
  
  
  
'Sheesh, why does Lum always have to fly off the handle like that? I didn't even get the chance to touch that other girl!'  
  
Sighing inwardly (so as not to waste more breath) Ataru looked out into the distance.  
  
'Funny...... the newscast said there wasn't a cloud in the sky over all of Japan...... ah well, at least it's not raining over here.'  
  
Just as those thoughts ran through his mind, a thin column of white light shot up right under the center of the rainstorm.  
  
'Just great, what was that? I hope it's not another alien....... unless it's female, of course.'  
  
  
  
(Now that the lame, blatantly uncreative forshadowing is over with, let's return to our heroes, shall we?)  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Ranma, Rayden, and Kaze all stared as the light receded from Genma's body, to reveal the fat, bald martial artist in all his human glory.  
  
And they stared.  
  
And stared.  
  
And stared.  
  
And stared a little more.  
  
Then they stared a lot more.  
  
Ranma opened his mouth to say something, but at the last second stopped and stared instead.  
  
  
  
Finally, Genma couldn't take the suspense any more, and looked down at himself.  
  
After the initial shock and surge of satifaction of not being a panda despite the heavy rain, Genma started to check himself all over to find out what everyone was staring at.  
  
  
  
Finally, Ranma lifted a finger to point above Genma's head.  
  
Genma slowly looked up...... and sweatdropped.  
  
Finally, Rayden just couldn't take it any more and fell to the ground laughing, all the while pointing at the little super-deformed panda floating above Genma's head.  
  
  
  
Genma blinked and tried to move out from under it. The little panda followed him, still floating, its expression and sitting position unchanged.  
  
"Wh-what is this thing?" Genma asked as he started to panic.  
  
Kaze sweatdropped. "Er, the purging of the spirit didn't go quite as expected. I forced the spirit from your body, but it refuses to leave you."  
  
Ranma adjusted his footing, so as to ignore the seismic waves from Rayden pounding his fist on the ground in hilarious laughter.  
  
"So you're saying that's Pop's... curse?"  
  
Kaze nodded, then nearly stumbled as the ground shook again.  
  
"Yes, that's the physical embodiment of the panda's soul. In time, the spell will wear off and it will reenter Saotome's body and reactivate the curse."  
  
"What?!" Genma bellowed. Looking up angrily, he thrust a fist toward the little panda spirit. Needless to say, his hand passed right through with no ill effects. That didn't stop him from trying again and again, however.  
  
The tiny panda spirit, apparently irritated by the hand trying to shoo it away, bit it when it came around again.  
  
Rayden, who had only recently recovered from his laughter, went into another fit and hit the ground.  
  
  
  
"I can't go see Tendo like this!" Genma whined.  
  
Ranma looked thoughtful. "Well, we've really got nowhere else to go... except maybe Mom's place."  
  
Ranma brightened as he thought it over. "Yeah, why don't we go there! It'd be great to see Mom again!"  
  
Genma sweatdropped. "Er, that's not really a good idea, son. Why don't we just go to the Tendos, I'll think of something." 'Nodoka will be furious if she finds out about the engagement before he's married. Hopefully me and Tendo can pull off the wedding before we see her again. Ha! Married at 16! If that's not manly, what is?'  
  
  
  
Ranma looked downcast for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. "All right. You know the way, so let's go."  
  
Genma started walking, desperately trying to maintain his dignity with the small semi-transparent panda sitting above his head.  
  
Rayden, who was still fighting the chuckles, quickly followed after he managed to get off the ground.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Soun Tendo of the Tendo branch of Anything-Goes Martial Arts sat at the dining table eating breakfast.  
  
To anyone who would have looked upon the scene, they wouldn't notice anything different about it, save that Nabiki looked thoughtful and Akane looked angry (both of which are far from uncommon).  
  
  
  
Inwardly though, Soun was just barely restraining a fountain of tears that could have drowned his whole family.  
  
'Oh Saotome, at last our dream of uniting the schools will finally be realized! I can't wait for your arrival!'  
  
His daughters' views were somewhat varied.  
  
'I can't believe it! Engaged, at 16! Why me? I'll bet he's a total jerk, too! And a pervert! All guys are perverts!'  
  
Nabiki's thoughts were a tad more optomistic.  
  
'Sheesh, talk about waiting 'till the last second. Then again, Daddy isn't exactly the tactful type. I just hope he's cute.'  
  
Kasumi didn't look any different from normal, but on the inside was a turmoil of thoughts and questions.'  
  
'What if he's too young? What kind of food does he like? Does he pick up after himself, or is he real messy? How much does his father eat? Did I pick up enough groceries?'  
  
  
  
*Ding dong*  
  
  
  
At the sound of the doorbell, everyone was immediately shaken from their thoughts. Soun and Nabiki immediately ran for the door, while Akane sighed and followed Kasumi's more patient pace.  
  
  
  
Soun stopped the moment he opened the door, blocking Nabiki's view. She tried to peek around him, but her line of sight was further blocked by a large body in white.  
  
"Tendo!"  
  
"Saotome!"  
  
  
  
The two followers of the Anything-Goes-School enveloped each other in crushing hugs, only letting go when Soun started to cry tears of joy.  
  
  
  
Genma scratched the back of his head. 'I guess Soun's the same as ever. Some things never change.'  
  
  
  
"Father, is this your friend?"  
  
Soun wiped the tears from his eyes as he nodded. "Yes. This is Genma Saotome, and........."  
  
"Something wrong Tendo?" Genma asked, curious as to why Soun stopped so suddenly.  
  
"Saotome...... is that a panda on your head?"  
  
Genma laughed as he sweatdropped. "Ha ha ha! Of course not, Tendo! Merely an optical illusion!"  
  
Nabiki sweatdropped next. "An optical illusion. Riiiiiiiiiiight."  
  
Quickly squeezing past the elder Saotome, Nabiki found three young men standing behind him, watching the events with a bemused expression on their faces.  
  
Genma was about to introduce them all, when Soun interrupted him.  
  
"Ranma Saotome?"  
  
The two taller men raised a leg as if to step forward, only to move backward instead.  
  
Ranma chuckled nervously as he felt everyone's eyes on him.  
  
Nabiki smiled. "Hmm. Not bad. I think I can forgive you for this one Daddy."  
  
Ranma blinked. "Huh?"  
  
  
  
Before he knew what was happening, Ranma was caught up in a crushing hug. Ranma waved his arms wildly to express his need for, and thereby lack of, air, only to have the man squeeze tighter.  
  
Out of the blue, Kaze spoke up. "I do believe his life force is fading."  
  
While no one took what he said seriously, it was enough to make Soun step back from Ranma in embarassment.  
  
Before Ranma could catch his breath however, he was grabbed by the shoulders and forcefully turned around to face the three women of the Tendo family.  
  
Once again Ranma blinked.  
  
Soun pointed to the oldest girl, the one with brown hair in a ponytail first as he introduced his daughters.  
  
"This is Kasumi, she's 19."  
  
Soun pointed towards the middle daughter, who had her brown hair cut short that seemed to look him up and down approvingly.  
  
"This is Nabiki, she's 17."  
  
Soun pointed toward the last daughter, who had her black hair in a ponytail like the elder sister. For reasons that escaped him, she seemed to stare at him with an glare of hatred and disgust he had only before seen on the demons he frequently dispatched.  
  
"And this is Akane, she's 16. Pick any one and she'll be your fiancee!"  
  
Akane's eyes narrowed at this, as if daring him to pick her.  
  
He didn't realize, however, because his mind had already gone into yellow alert.  
  
"W-w-wait! Fiancee? I just met them!!"  
  
Genma slapped him on the back. "That's right boy! Now pick one so we can get on with the ceremony!"  
  
  
  
Luckily for Ranma, Kaze decided to interfere on his behalf.  
  
"Isn't it rather early for him to marry anyone?"  
  
Genma tried to elbow Kaze in the side, only to have his arm smack into an invisible energy field.  
  
"After all, Ranma is only 16, hasn't had a consistant education, knows very little in the way of social graces or dealing with people... no offense."  
  
"None taken." If anything, Ranma only looked relieved.  
  
"It's my professional belief that one should never rush into these things."  
  
Soun and Genma were about to tell him to mind his own business, when Nabiki interrupted them.  
  
"Daddy, who are they?"  
  
Soun looked questioningly at the two young men. Kaze bowed apologetically.  
  
"Forgive me for not introducing myself earlier. My name is Kaze Toren, priest 2nd class of the order of The White Star."  
  
Rayden gave a salute with two fingers and grinned. "Name's Rayden Shikodan, first paladin of the order of The White Star. Don't be too impressed with the title though, it only sounds impressive."  
  
Nabiki blinked. "Uh huh......"  
  
Kasumi smiled. That is to say, her smile became deeper, or more pronounced...... or something.  
  
"How nice! It looks like we'll have more company!"  
  
Soun glanced back toward Genma. "Saotome, why are these people traveling with you?"  
  
Genma laughed nervously. "It's a long story Tendo. How about I tell you over a cup of sake?"  
  
Soun smiled broadly. "Why that's a fine idea! I've been saving a special bottle for something like this!"  
  
  
  
As the two men left, Kaze opted to follow Kasumi upstairs. "I'll assist with our preparations. Masters, I suggest you get settled. We'll likely be here for a while."  
  
Nabiki glanced at the two remaining travellers. "Masters?"  
  
Ranma laughed as he placed a hand behind his head. "He does that to everybody. Just wait, you'll have a 'mistress' next to your name soon."  
  
Nabiki just smiled at him, which for some reason made him very nervous.  
  
Once she was sure that her father was out of earshot, Akane once again focused a glare at Ranma.  
  
"I'm not marrying you, so whatever perverted thoughts you're having, forget it!"  
  
Ranma took a step back involuntarily, completely taken off-guard by the comment.  
  
"Well, toucheeee." Rayden crossed his arms over his chest.  
  
Akane shifted her glare. "Mind your own business!"  
  
Ranma quickly recovered, and jumped in with a retort.  
  
"Hey! I'm just as much a victim in this as you are! You think I want to be married right now?"  
  
Akane snorted. "No, I'm sure you'd much rather just skip the wedding and go straight to the honeymoon!"  
  
Nabiki rolled her eyes. Akane was just going to ruin this, she could tell.  
  
Ranma just blinked. "Honeymoon? What?"  
  
Rayden grabbed him by the shoulder and whispered something in his ear, releasing him as soon as his eyes bugged out.  
  
Ranma bigsweated as he pointed an accusing finger at Akane. "Hey! What kind of guy do you take me for? You don't even know me!"  
  
Akane just huffed as she walked out of the room. "Just stay away from me! If I catch you or your friends peeping on me or my sisters, they'll never find your remains!!"  
  
  
  
Rayden and Ranma's combined gazes shot daggers into her back for the accusation as she ascended the stairway.  
  
Nabiki shook her head. "Sorry about that. Little sister has always been rather...... headstrong."  
  
Rayden snorted. "That sounds like an understatement to me. Where does she get off, judging us the moment we walk in the door?"  
  
Nabiki smiled and waved her hand in a dismissing gesture. "Enough about Akane. Ranma, why don't you tell me a little about yourself?"  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
"Oh, that's all right, you don't need to help."  
  
Kaze smiled as he continued to lay out the futons. "Nonsense. We are guests in your home. It wouldn't be right not to at least help out, Mistress Tendo."  
  
Kasumi smiled from the sheer politeness of the speech. "Oh, well, if you insist. But just call me Kasumi, please."  
  
Kaze nodded. "Yes, Mistress Kasumi."  
  
Kasumi blinked, and then decided not to pursue the subject.  
  
  
  
Kaze finished setting up his futon, and started taking out Rayden's, when Kasumi spoke up again.  
  
"So... about Ranma......" Kasumi trailed off, unsure of how to ask the question.  
  
"What about him?"  
  
Kasumi didn't answer for a while, and Kaze smiled.  
  
"I assume you wish to know a bit about Master Saotome's character?"  
  
Kasumi blushed faintly. "Well, I don't mean to be rude, but-"  
  
"No, no, not at all," Kaze waved off her apologies, "For all you know you may end up being engaged to him. It's only right that you know what kind of person he is."  
  
Kasumi didn't answer, but kept her attention focused as she folded a blanket.  
  
Kaze let out a sigh. "Well, to begin, Master Ranma was a social disaster when we first became acquainted. This is mostly due to his father's influence, who has never placed much importance in skills such as tact and manners. After a few lectures from me, his manners have improved, but he still has a tendency of being far too honest."  
  
Kasumi blinked.  
  
"Other than that, he generally isn't good at anything non-physical. Emotions are rarely understood, and are all too often ignored, which makes him rather hard to talk to. Master Ranma isn't very sensitive, but I can tell you that he can't bear to see people hurt that don't deserve it."  
  
Kaze smiled slightly. "Especially women. Most people think he has a chauvanistic attitude, but I think he's not used to dealing with them or being around them."  
  
Kasumi blinked again and stared at him questioningly.  
  
Kaze allowed himself a light chuckle. "He's far past puberty, and I can tell you I've yet to see him show any physical attraction to a woman. It's odd, really."  
  
Kaze finished making Rayden's futon, and sat down on his bedroll. "Some of his more positive qualities would be that he's very persistent, adaptive, excels in anything physical, and has the strongest sense of honor I've ever known."  
  
Kaze rocked backward slightly as Kasumi took all of this in.  
  
"I'm sorry, did I overwhelm you?"  
  
Kasumi blinked. "Excuse me?"  
  
Kaze chuckled. "I have a tendency to...... read people like that. Within a few days, I often know that person better than they know themselves."  
  
Kasumi's smile returned to her face. "Really? Nabiki's the same way!"  
  
Kaze shrugged. "I doubt that. You see, I do a little bit of telepathy... don't look so shocked, I don't read people's minds as a hobby."  
  
Kasumi was still flustered, and she looked at the white priest warily. "Well, isn't that invading people's privacy?"  
  
Kaze shook his head. "You misunderstand. Let me tell you a little of the nature of my abilities......"  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
"Really? You fight demons?" Nabiki munched on a cracker as Ranma related some of his abilities to her.  
  
It really wasn't as far-fetched nowadays as it would have been just a few years ago. In the past few years there had been an increasingly large number of sightings of hideous monsters and unexplained phenomenae. In general the creatures didn't bother humans, but every couple months there was at least one story about a horrible mass murder or human remains being found in a dark alley somewhere. The military did what it could, but the creatures never stayed in one place too long, and they seemed to appear only near forests and mountains where large-scale searches were extensively difficult.  
  
  
  
Nabiki swallowed her cracker. "Sounds like a tough job."  
  
Rayden smirked. "Yeah, and the pay sucks. Health benefits aren't too promising either. At least there's very little paperwork involved."  
  
"So, what, do you hunt them down and then beat the life out of them?"  
  
Ranma looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged. "Not very often. Usually, they come after us."  
  
Nabiki seemed to flinch at that statement, and she accidentally swallowed the next cracker whole.  
  
*Hack* *Cough* "They *Cough* come to you?"  
  
Ranma gave her a hard slap on the back, then nodded. "Yup. All the time. Sometimes portals just start appearing and huge groups of the things just start marching out."  
  
Nabiki stared at him. "Really."  
  
Ranma nodded. "Uh huh. Although we usually don't stick around then."  
  
  
  
Nabiki opened her mouth to ask another question, when Kasumi spoke up from behind them. She seemed distracted by something.  
  
"Ranma, if you and your friend want to take a bath, the water's ready."  
  
Rayden got up. "Thanks. A bath would be great right about now."  
  
Ranma nodded and followed Rayden up the stairs.  
  
  
  
As Kasumi left down the hall, Nabiki's brow creased in thought.  
  
'Just what are we getting ourselves into here?'  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
"Oh, Akane, there you are."  
  
Akane turned from the dojo entrance to see Kasumi standing by the linen closet with an armload of towels. Akane couldn't quite be sure, but she got the impression that Kasumi was thinking about something else even as she addressed her sister.  
  
"If you want to take a bath, the water's ready."  
  
Akane smiled. Just what she needed to take her mind off those irritating boys.  
  
"Thanks oneechan!" And with that she headed up the stairs.  
  
  
  
As Akane left, Kasumi was still deep in thought.  
  
'What a fascinating ability. It would be nice if I could sense what Nabiki and Akane are feeling sometimes. Especially Nabiki. Sometimes she just won't share her feelings and...... oh my, did I just send Akane into the bath after Ranma and his friend?'  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Akane did a final check of the hallway before she slipped into the changing room. Now that there were three boys in the house, she would have to be extra careful of peeping toms.  
  
She was so intent on watching the entrance and any possible peepholes as she undressed that she didn't even notice the large trench coat, silk Chinese outfit, or even the heavy boots that littered one side of the room.  
  
She didn't even notice the "occupied" sign as she slipped into the bathroom.  
  
Akane froze the moment she turned around and saw two muscular bodies waist deep in the water and staring at her.  
  
There was a moment of silence.  
  
Rayden turned back around and sighed as he admired the tile pattern on the wall. "Well, this is awkward."  
  
Ranma unfroze. "What the heck are you doing in here? Didn't you see the 'occupied' sign?!"  
  
Akane didn't say anything for a few more moments. Then her yell shook the entire house.  
  
"PERVERTS!!!!!!!"  
  
Ranma and Raydens' ears were so badly damaged by the scream, they missed the noise of a sink being ripped out of the wall. They were also distracted enough not to notice the wrathful figure, outlined in a glowing halo of red, descending on them with her porcelain weapon.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Kasumi surveyed the scene before her with no small amount of guilt.  
  
"Oh my."  
  
"You said it sis." Nabiki said dryly.  
  
Before them was the bathroom, or more accurately, what was left of the bathroom.  
  
Akane was wrapping a towel around herself, breathing heavily from the exertion of beating two extremely powerful males into unconsciousness.  
  
The sink was currently in three pieces, all of which resided in the furo, which was being drained of its water via a large tear made by Rayden's body having been smashed repeatedly against the furo wall.  
  
Ranma's head had been neatly implanted into the tile wall by a well-placed sink attack, and all along his back there were indentations that looked to be made from pipes.  
  
  
  
Kaze looked into the bathroom, and his jaw went slack at the sight of such massive destruction.  
  
"By the Lord Teroshia! Who, no, what did this? What kind of horrid creature could possibly muster such strength?"  
  
Akane glared at him angrily. "Shut up! They had it coming!"  
  
Kaze blinked. "YOU did this? Are you even remotely aware of the force necessary to knock out those two?"  
  
Akane just huffed as she gathered her clothes and left for her room.  
  
"Well that's what they get for peeping! The stupid perverts can just drown for all I care!"  
  
The door slammed shut, and Kaze spared a glance at Kasumi.  
  
"She's rather tempermental, isn't she?"  
  
Kasumi bowed. "I'm sorry. It was really my fault. If I hadn't-"  
  
Kaze waved her apology away as approached Rayden and picked up his head out of the puddle on the floor.  
  
"Nonsense. You mustn't apologize for the misdeeds of others. You may have sparked a conflict, but your sister chose to take out her aggression on my companions. There is none of your fault in that."  
  
  
  
Nabiki flinched. She wasn't sure what it was, but for some reason the priest really creeped her out.  
  
Maybe it was the way he looked at people, as if he could always tell exactly what they're feeling. Maybe it was the way he talked, like some kind of high-and-mighty mystic.  
  
Maybe it was that weird glow he emitted while he healed up Ranma and Rayden.  
  
Nabiki's eyes bugged out slightly as she watched bruises and cuts disappear instantly to leave only healthy, undamaged flesh (VERY healthy, in fact. She was quite dissapointed that her view below Ranma's waist was effectively blocked).  
  
"So... Toren... you're a healer, eh?"  
  
Kaze frowned as he felt the middle daughter's emotions shift from nervousness to greed.  
  
"Ouch. What hit me?"  
  
"An 80-pound chunk of porcelain going at approximately 192 miles per hour," Kaze replied, keeping a completely straight face.  
  
Rayden blinked. "Well, excuse me for asking."  
  
Ranma shook his head as he regained consciousness. "Geez, talk about uncute......"  
  
Kasumi bowed again in apology. "I'm sorry, I forgot you were in here and I told Akane the bath was ready."  
  
Nabiki patted Kaze on the back, a calculating gleam in her eyes. "So, have you ever considered going into medicine?"  
  
Kaze put a hand to his head, and then called out to everyone in the room.  
  
"Please! I think this has been a hard day on everyone! For now, we should rest. Masters, here are some towels. Ladies, if you wouldn't mind?"  
  
  
  
Ranma toweled himself off once the girls had gone, though Nabiki had to be physically pushed out of the bathroom.  
  
'Man, I have a feeling that life is going to get much more complicated from now on.'  
  
  
  
Ranma never would figure out just how right he was.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
The night was quiet, as it usually was whenever one got more than 4 miles from the Moroboshi house and the Kuno mansion. But that suited the police officers just fine. The more boring their job was, the less paperwork they'd have to deal with later.  
  
Some people speculated that Nerima had no police force. This was false. However, officers were always encouraged to avoid certain "danger zones" around the area. Hey, some of these people had families.  
  
  
  
One of them sipped his coffee as he turned the corner, the headlights of the car casting deep shadows along the roads and sidewalks.  
  
His partner spotted another car up ahead, and pointed out how it was swerving all across the road.  
  
"Great. Another drunk driver. Why can't these people just lay off the sake when they know they have to drive home?"  
  
The driver turned on the siren, signalling the drunk to pull over.  
  
  
  
The man in the other car noticed, and the car started to slow down as it headed toward the sidewalk.  
  
Then, out of nowhere, a great blue sphere eangulfed the hood of the car, rending the engine and sending arcs of electricity all along the outer frame.  
  
"What the hell........." Both the officers could only stare in amazement and no small amount of fear as a large, blocky shape stepped out of the sphere and onto the roof, crushing the entire thing inward.  
  
The driver of the police car hit the brakes and was about to turn around when the same blue light flashed in front of the car, expanding quickly and disappearing just as fast.  
  
The hood caved in immediately, and the windshield followed, showering the car's occupants with shards of glass.  
  
The passenger in the car slipped his hand to his gun, despite his hand quivering so strongly that he could barely hold it.  
  
He raised the hand that was protecting his face from the glass, ony to find something blocking his view of anything beyond what used to be the hood of the car.  
  
That "something" slowly turned around, looming up over the two humans.  
  
The police officer tried to move his arm to shoot at the creature, but found that he was thouroughly paralyzed through sheer terror.  
  
A single, yellow, vertically slit eye stared down at them in the darkness.  
  
Nobody heard their screams.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
"Oh, good morning Ranma."  
  
Ranma returned Kasumi's smile as he haphazardly dragged Rayden across the floor. "Morning Kasumi."  
  
Kasumi blinked and looked down at the swordsman, to realize that he was still asleep, even as he impacted objects on his way outside.  
  
Ranma saw Kasumi's questioning gaze and shrugged. "Well, Ray never gets up early himself, so I usually have to wake him up for practice."  
  
Kasumi nodded as Ranma dragged the larger man down the stairs, his head hitting each step as he went down.  
  
"He must be a deep sleeper."  
  
Ranma rolled his eyes. "You wouldn't believe it. This gets harder every day."  
  
Kasumi gave him another smile before leaving to prepare breakfast.  
  
  
  
Nabiki groaned mightily as the incessant buzzing of her alarm clock marked the beginning of new day of profits and possibilities. Had she had a more optomistic outlook on life, she may have seen it that way, but since she didn't, and since Kasumi hadn't called them down for breakfast yet, Nabiki proceeded to knock the annoying device away from her nightstand and away from its power supply.  
  
Then, with her mission accomplished, she snuggled back into her deep, feathery pillows and pulled the blankets over her shoulders, relishing in the warmth and comfort of rest.  
  
  
  
Three... two... one...  
  
  
  
*Splash!* *BOOM!!*  
  
Nabiki fell out of her bed as an explosion rocked the house's foundation. Quickly getting up to see what was going on, she opened her window and stuck her head outside.  
  
*Splat*  
  
A wet, slimy object going at approximately 45 kmph collided with a stationary, irritable object, sending the latter object reeling backward and back into her room.  
  
Thrashing about wildly, Nabiki finally managed to knock the object away from her so that she could see what it was.  
  
A koi. There, thrashing around as wildly as she had been, though for a much different and more desperate reason, was a large, golden koi.  
  
Angrily approaching the window once more, Nabiki looked down into the backyard to see a large crater where the koi pond used to be, and Rayden and Ranma in a heated argument.  
  
  
  
"What's the big idea of dropping me in the koi pond anyway? You couldn't think of a better way to wake me up in the morning?!"  
  
"NO!!! You sleep like a rock! I don't know how many times I've told you that! And whether or not you were surprised, how was throwing a ki blast even an option?"  
  
"I told you! It was reflex! When I'm sleeping one moment and then dunked in freezing cold water the next, I get surprised!"  
  
"And so you just pump out an Iczer beam? How reckless is that?"  
  
"Excuse me? Boys?" a deceptively sweet voice rang out from above, diverting their attention away from their argument.  
  
"It's currently 6:15 AM. Like Shikodan there, I like to sleep in when I can. So could you tone it down a bit before I have to make your lives miserable?"  
  
Down below, the two fighters sweatdropped as they wondered exactly how Nabiki would do that.  
  
"Uh, alright, sure. Sorry." Ranma said, unsure of himself.  
  
"Thanks." Nabiki smiled. Neither of the boys could say exactly why they felt so relieved.  
  
  
  
Just as she was about to drop back into her mattress, a familiar voice rang out. "Breakfast is ready!"  
  
Cursing her miserable luck, Nabiki put on a shirt and some shorts, then exited her room only to be bowled over by Genma, who was on his way to the table.  
  
Once again cursing her luck (and her houseguests), she wearily descended the stairs and scanned the room.  
  
Ranma, Rayden, and Genma were all eating like it was their first meal in weeks, while Kaze had a small cup of tea and some miso soup.  
  
'Great. Three of them are healthy eaters. We'll be bankrupt in a month.'  
  
Nabiki took a seat at the end of the table just as Akane came back from her jog.  
  
Akane looked at the quantities of food being devoured and frowned. "When was the last time you guys ate?"  
  
"Yesterday," Ranma answered without slowing down.  
  
'Sheesh. He's not just a pervert, he's a pig too.'  
  
Akane sat down next to her sister and started to serve herself.  
  
"Oh, Mr. Saotome! Your panda's gone!" Everyone shifted their attention to Genma at the sound of Kasumi's voice, and the portly martial artist chuckled nervously.  
  
"Mph? *Gulp* Panda? What panda? I have no idea what you're talking about!" Genma nudged Kaze meaningfully, and the priest sighed deeply.  
  
"Later, alright?"  
  
Genma nodded happily as everyone else stared. Then they all shrugged at once and went back to eating.  
  
  
  
After the Tendos and Kaze were done eating, and Ranma and Rayden were on their 7th servings, Genma put down his chopsticks and snapped his fingers.  
  
"That reminds me! Today you're starting school, boy!"  
  
Ranma groaned as he put down his chopsticks and turned to his father, not noticing as Rayden stole his remaining food.  
  
"School? Already? We just got here!"  
  
Genma wagged a finger at him. "No complaints! Besides, it'll give you time to get to know...... er, which one is your fiancee again?"  
  
Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane all flinched at the statement, and Soun had a thoughtful expression. Before anyone could comment, however, Kaze stood up and spoke.  
  
"Master Saotome will not be going to school today. He'll join me and Master Shikodan in patrolling the area."  
  
Rayden's plate hit the table. "All right! Lemme get my sword!"  
  
As Rayden left, Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "'Patrol'? You can't be serious. No principal is going to believe that one."  
  
Genma slipped into his "authoritive parent" voice. "Boy, you'll go to school like your fiancee and-"  
  
Before he could continue, Kaze closed his eyes and concentrated briefly. Genma froze stiff, then slowly relaxed.  
  
"On second thought boy, making sure there are no demons around is more important. Go with your friends."  
  
Nabiki's eyes were suddenly glued to Kaze in disbelief. 'How did he do that?'  
  
"Thanks Pop! See ya!" Ranma rushed out of the room, followed by the white priest. The sound of a window opening upstairs was heard.  
  
"Interesting..." Nabiki narrowed her eyes as a plan formed.  
  
Akane just shook her head. "If you ask me, all three of them are total weirdos."  
  
"Saotome, are you sure that you should have let your son go like that?"  
  
Genma shuddered. "Trust me Tendo, it's better than the alternative. Much better."  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
"Well, well, well. Looks like we gots a major infestashun," Rayden said in a bad imitation of an American southerner.  
  
The wicked looking little creature hissed at him ferociously, rearing up on its back legs and lashing out with its oversized claws.  
  
It was about a foot long, with razor sharp blade-like claws on each of its four legs. Its dark brown skin was stretched so tightly around its bones that the creature looked almost skeletal, its glowing red eyes illuminating the dark alley that the humans were intruding.  
  
In one quick motion Rayden grabbed it, holding the thing up by its neck and holding it out at arm's length so that its claws would be rendered useless.  
  
Kaze and Ranma observed the creature closely, just out of reach of its thrashing.  
  
  
  
"I'd say it's just a scavenger. Too small to be a man-eater. Probably couldn't even kill a guy by itself." Ranma poked the thing in the stomach, moving his hand in and out of the monster's wild swings.  
  
Kaze nodded. "Yes, these in themselves are nothing to worry about, though their presence means that there's probably others around. And not all of them are necessarily scavengers......"  
  
Ranma nodded. "Good point."  
  
Rayden shrugged and squeezed the creature's neck, snapping its spine and killing it instantly.  
  
The second its lifeless body hit the ground, it was immediately pounced on by three more of the little monsters, who quickly ripped to shreds and started scraping the bones with their sharp teeth.  
  
Rayden looked disgusted. "I think I'm gonna be sick."  
  
Ranma shook his head as he casually threw an energy blast into the alley, disentigrating the demons.  
  
"Me too. You wanna go get something to eat?"  
  
Rayden's demeanor changed instantly. "Always."  
  
Kaze sweatdropped before shrugging and following them to the nearest restaraunt.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
"Yuka, turn right! No! Right!" Sayuri yelled into her friends ear as the brown haired girl frantically tried to control her aerofighter, only to get hit by an spinning oval burst of gunfire and explode, marking the end of both the game and a week's allowance.  
  
Yuka glared at her friend as the oversized "game over" heading flashed on the screen.  
  
"I did turn right."  
  
Sayuri blushed a bit and scratched the back of her head. "Heh heh. I, uh, meant left."  
  
Yuka sighed and rooted around in her pockets before locating an old bottle cap and a button.  
  
"Well, I'm out of money. You want to leave before Moroboshi shows up and starts groping people?"  
  
Sayuri scanned the arcade as she responded. "No, I have some money left from that bet I won on one of Kuno's fights. Let's go get something to eat...... Wait!"  
  
Yuka was suddenly stopped by a hand holding her shoulder. "What?"  
  
Sayuri pointed at the entrance of the building. "Is that the cutest guy you've ever seen or what? Look!"  
  
Yuka looked where her friend was pointing, and her heart skipped a beat. He had to have been the most handsome guy she'd ever seen outside of a movie or concert. He was muscular and tall, with raven black hair and a pigtail that just seemed to make him even better looking. It took her a while to realize that Sayuri was already advancing.  
  
  
  
Sayuri felt herself being yanked backward suddenly, and realized that Yuka was glaring at her again.  
  
"Something wrong?"  
  
"Aren't you going steady with Kiro right now? I mean, don't you have a date with him tonight?"  
  
Sayuri thought about it for a moment. "Kiro... Kiro... oh! That Kiro! Uh, yeah, I guess so."  
  
Yuka sweatdropped. Sayuri rolled her eyes.  
  
"Well, if you want him, then go ahead and ask him out already!"  
  
Yuka yelped as she was suddenly shoved forward. Shooting her companion a questioning glance, she hardened her resolve and approached the newcomer.  
  
  
  
Ranma looked around the room and took in the sound of hundreds of machines making electronic noises. He had never been to an arcade before, so had taken the opportunity to look at one when Kaze found a store full of old trinkets and books.  
  
Locating a game about martial arts called "Street Fighter II", he put a coin into the machine and selected a character.  
  
  
  
Yuka stood by Ranma for a few moments, unable to think of what to say.  
  
'Hey, have I seen you around before? No, too cliche. What's a cutie like you doing in a place like this? No, too forward.'  
  
"Shoot! How come he can throw fireballs but I can't?"  
  
Then, before she knew what she was doing, Yuka blurted out, "You have to do a quarter turn forward with the joystick first."  
  
Ranma's head whirled around to face her, suddenly aware of her presence. Then, in a burst of intellectual stimulation, he formed his reply.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Yuka blushed, really wishing she could have started out the conversation with something other than video games. Then again, they were in an arcade.  
  
Seeing Ranma's character about to get decked again, Yuka came to the rescue, gently taking the joystick in order to salvage the newcomer's money. Ranma quickly stepped back, choosing to observe a more experienced player's technique.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Kaze and Rayden stepped out of the old mustard yellow building, the former holding an old ornamental shrine, and the latter looking as if he had just escaped from an eight-hour lecture on pond algae.  
  
"Kami, what huge waste of time! It swear, it smelled like vasoline in there! I expected the whole thing to go up in flames just from the lights! And why would anyone need a whole wall of red candles?"  
  
Kaze wisely ignored his companions complaints, well aware that the larger man didn't share his interest in the antiqueated or mystical. Rayden preferred things you could crush or blow up without consequence.  
  
  
  
Rayden was concentrating so much on his ranting of how boring the store was, he didn't notice the lady carrying groceries until she walked into the side of him, his wide frame nudging one of the bags from her grasp.  
  
With reflexed born of countless beatings at Ranma's hand (of which Genma laughingly called "sparring sessions), Rayden dove for the package, managing to save the groceries and bang his head on the pavement at the same time.  
  
The lady, a striking woman in her forties with short reddish brown hair, tried to steady herself, and would have fallen had Kaze not helped her regain her balance first.  
  
The woman turned a grateful smile toward the priest. "Thank you young man. I'm sorry for bumping into you."  
  
She had to back up slightly as Rayden suddenly rose up from the ground, holding her other package in one hand.  
  
"Actually it was me you bumped into. Sorry 'bout that. Here's your stuff."  
  
She offered an apology and quickly bowed, before scooping up her other bag. With that she thanked the two young men, and started on her way home.  
  
"Master Shikodan, we should return and get Master Saotome quickly. We have more area we should cover."  
  
Rayden nodded, and was about to follow Kaze, when the woman's voice rang out behind him.  
  
"Excuse me... did you say 'Saotome'?"  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
"Wow, you're pretty good at this." 'I wonder what else he'd be good at...?' Yuka blushed at the thought as Ranma massacred his opponent.  
  
Ranma smiled slightly at the compliment as he wasted his eighth foe for the last ten mintues. It was awkward at first, fighting an enemy with a joystick and buttons, but Ranma was if anything a fast learner.  
  
"Thanks for teaching me. This is my first time playing one of these."  
  
Yuka put on her cutest smile and batted her eyelashes at him. "Really? Where are you from?"  
  
For the life of him, Ranma couldn't understand his sudden urge to bolt for the nearest exit. "Uh, I'm actually from around here, but I've been travelling most of my life."  
  
"Oh wow!" Yuka gushed, "Living your life on the road! How romantic!"  
  
Ranma blinked, then sweatdropped. "Er, yeah, I guess so."  
  
"Hey Ranma!"  
  
  
  
Ranma turned at the sound of Rayden's voice, but didn't even make eye contact before he was tackled by something and scooped up in a crushing hug. Struggling for air, Ranma's first conclusion was that Rayden was trying out one of his new attacks on him.  
  
Then the person released and then stepped back to look at him. That person was a woman. Blows that theory straight to hell.  
  
  
  
"Who-" Ranma began.  
  
"Ranma! It's me! Nodoka! You're mother!" She beamed at him, smiling the world's brightest smile.  
  
Ranma's brain desperately tried to get his mouth working. "M-M-Mom?"  
  
Nodoka Saotome looked over her son, her face growing brighter every second. Oh, how handsome he'd become!  
  
Yuka tapped Kaze on the shoulder. "Is this a bad time?"  
  
Kaze nodded. "This is a bit of a family affair. It would be prudent for us to leave them be for a while."  
  
Nodoka hugged Ranma again, letting her tears flow freely. "Oh, my son! You've grown up to be so handsome!"  
  
Ranma sweatdropped, as did Rayden. Yuka giggled.  
  
Nodoka somehow managed to detect the noise, and her head snapped to attention. Then she was hugging Ranma again. "And you're picking up girls!"  
  
A second sweatdrop joined the first one on Ranma's head. Yuka blushed, wondering if Ranma was really trying to pick her up.  
  
Rayden looked impressed. "Wow, first day, and you're already scoping out women? You do move fast don't you?"  
  
Ranma waved his arms around in a striking imitation of someone trying to fly away under their own power. "No! It's not like that! We just met, and- "  
  
"Oh, there's no need to be shy about it," Nodoka turned to the girl and smiled broadly, "forgive me for not getting acquainted earlier. I'm Ranma's mother Nodoka, and you are?"  
  
Yuka smiled and bowed to the older lady. Had to make a good impression, after all. "Yuka Shiranui. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Saotome."  
  
Nodoka's smile widened, if that was possible. "Call me Mom."  
  
*Thud*  
  
"I think Ranma just fainted," Rayden announced.  
  
If Nodoka noticed or cared, she didn't show it. "So Yuka, why don't you come eat dinner over our house today, as a way of saying thanks for showing my son a good time?"  
  
Rayden slapped Ranma's face repeatedly. "Snap out of it, man!"  
  
Yuka bigsweated. Even if Ranma was cute, his mother was trying to move things along a little too fast for her taste. "That's okay, I really can't tonight. Maybe some other time." Taking out a slip of paper and a pen, Yuka wrote down her phone number and address and gave it to the elder Saotome. "When your son wakes up, please give him this and tell him to call me, okay? Thanks!"  
  
Nodoka sighed and smiled as the girl left to tell her friend all about her encounter. "What a nice girl. Ah, to be young and in love again."  
  
"Clear!" *BLAM!!*  
  
"Ow! What'dya do that for, idiot?!"  
  
"I believe master Shikodan was attempting CPR. And failing, I might add."  
  
"I'll show you CPR!" *Bam!* *Thwack!* *Pow!*  
  
"Ow! Damn it, you ungrateful little..."  
  
  
  
"Excuse, me, boys?"  
  
  
  
Ranma and Rayden immediately stopped fighting, with Rayden over Ranma grasping his shirt while Ranma was on his back with his foot caving in Rayden's throat.  
  
"Uh, yes?" Ranma inquired.  
  
Nodoka smiled at them like the sight was nothing out of the ordinary. "Why don't we come back to my house and get reaquainted. I'd love to hear about your training trip. Your friends can come too."  
  
Kaze bowed to her. "It would be our pleasure, Mistress Saotome. Master Shikodan, if you would help me with the bags..."  
  
Nodoka turned toward Ranma. "Is he always this formal?"  
  
Ranma nodded as he kicked Rayden off so the swordsman could help with the groceries. "Yeah, you should hear him when he's around people he actually looks up to. It's sickening."  
  
  
  
The foursome left the game room, and were on there way to the outskirts of Juuban, Nodoka happily chatting with her son, and Rayden grumbling about being used (and thought of) as a pack mule. Not that he really minded the weight, but it was the principle of the thing.  
  
"So Ranma, where is your father?"  
  
"Oh, he's at some friend's place. We stayed there too, last night. He'll be fine where he is." Ranma answered off-handedly.  
  
"Oh." Nodoka figured it was for the best if he stayed put for a night; though she really wanted to see him again, Nodoka was far more interested in getting reacquainted with her son.  
  
"So, have you met any nice young ladies on your trip?" Nodoka asked with a sly smile. Why, with her son being as manly as he was, how could he but attract ladies left and right?  
  
Ranma gulped at the question and tried not to think too hard about the incident back at the arcade. "Uh, well, not really..."  
  
Nodoka frowned slighty until Rayden gave Ranma a light punch on the shoulder.  
  
"Whaddya mean? You haven't already forgotten Shampoo, have you? She was all over you like-WAUGH!!" the rest of his statement was lost as Ranma's foot sweep sent the larger man tumbling to the ground, just barely keeping the packages he was holding from getting smashed.  
  
Ranma glared at him as the swordsman tried to get up and balance his load at the same time. "Rayden, try not to be so clumsy, you might accidentally break something."  
  
Nodoka either didn't notice Ranma's attack or ignored it. "So, who's this... Shampoo?"  
  
Rayden grinned, eager to get back at Ranma in any way possible. "She's this real pretty girl from China. Ranma beat her in combat, so according to tribal law, they're married."  
  
Nodoka raised an eyebrow at the "married" part. This really wouldn't do, her son was far too young to settle down with a single girl now.  
  
"Of course, I hear a good number of other women from the same village wouldn't mind getting their hands on him either. Oh, and didn't we mention that the 'friend' that Mr. Saotome's stayin' with wants to engage Ranma to one of his three daughters? I think two of them are real interested too!"  
  
Rayden gave Ranma a wink. Ranma felt like banging his head on the wall. Not that Nodoka was angry; far from it, her eyes were shining like she had just won the lottery, but he had a very bad feeling about this.  
  
Ranma was interrupted from his premonitions of doom when Rayden grabbed his shoulder and shook him slightly.  
  
"Yup, you've got a real lady-killer here, ma'am!"  
  
Ranma laughed nervously before whispering in Rayden's ear, "You are so dead."  
  
Kaze's voice seemed to emanate from nowhere; Nodoka had forgotten that he was even there. "Yes, it would seem that Master Saotome is quite popular among the women. Why even when he was much younger, several of the girls at the temple were quite enamored with him, especially after he beat Master Shikodan so easily."  
  
Rayden groaned at the memory of being beaten into the ground for the first time. Ranma gave Kaze a look that seemed to say "You too?".  
  
"Well then, it's only natural for girls to be attracted to someone as manly as you, my son. Here's my house here, you can tell me all about it inside. Oh, and what do you think about that girl Yuka? She's very pretty, isn't she?"  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
While Ranma was enduring humiliation and embarrassment the likes of which he had never known, another about Ranma's age, who's lot in life seemed to be enduring humiliation and embarrassment (he was darn good at it too), was heading toward his favorite place.  
  
Well, his favorite place of which he was actually allowed. He'd much rather be in Furinkan's girls' locker room, or in some girl's bedroom, than at his Aunt Nodoka's house, but he wasn't exactly welcome in those places, and for good reason.  
  
But Ataru Moroboshi was always welcome at the Saotome estate. It was one of the very few places he was welcome, actually, as even his own parents usually seemed to resent his presence, especially of late.  
  
It wasn't his fault though. Really. It was those damn aliens. Besides, Nodoka's cooking was sooooo good!  
  
Lum sighed and tried to keep on her smile as she floated above her beloved who was whistling to himself.  
  
It wasn't that she didn't like Auntie Saotome, she was really nice, and anything that occupied Ataru's time and kept him from girl-chasing certainly couldn't be that bad. But still, it was galling the way Nodoka tended to encourage Ataru's...... less appealing habits (best known as his way of life). How she could approve of his "aggressive" flirting, wanting to date several women, and peeping were beyond her, and it was a real pain having to deal with the ego boost she gave him.  
  
Lum shook her head, then jerked back in midair as a sudden, bright flash of light lit up backyard of the Saotome home.  
  
"H-hey, d-did you see that?" Ataru briefly thought about running away, but then thought the better of it. If it was dangerous it would manage to track him down sooner or later, even if it wasn't looking for him at all.  
  
"Auntie Saotome!" Lum streaked toward the gate leading to the backyard of the Saotome estate, Ataru following as quickly as he could.  
  
  
  
What they found upon passing the gates were far from what either of them expected.  
  
Of course, this was Nerima, and the "expected" was a fairly blurred concept. Still, it was weird even for them.  
  
  
  
Rayden streaked toward his target at speeds that most cars never reach, stabbing his sword forward in two small arcs to either side, the air current carrying the sting and cutting power of the blade long after it was no longer present.  
  
Ranma gave the situation but a nanosecond of thought before he leapt up to meet the swordsman, planting his foot in his chest, squarely between the two deadly spikes of air. Bringing his other foot up to connect with his opponents chin, Ranma fell backwards onto the ground, Rayden's retalitory slash missing his shoulder by mere inches, and still barely slicing flesh.  
  
Digging his other shoulder into the ground, Ranma let his opponent's momentum place himself right in position on the soles on his feet, and kicked upward, hurtling Rayden into one of the large trees that dotted the large house's backyard.  
  
*Crunch* *SNAP!!*  
  
Ranma got up and winced as he dusted himself off. There really wasn't much of the tree left. Rayden really ought to learn how to fall better.  
  
  
  
After he was done gaping at the six-foot tall guy in a trench coat slamming into a tree and reducing it to splinters, Ataru quickly scanned the area and found Nodoka sitting on the porch drinking tea with another guy with white hair and some kind of weird robes, like the kind Sakura wore. She only barely seemed concered with the fight, and was happily chatting with her guest.  
  
Tired of being left out of the loop, Ataru trudged over to Nodoka. He quickly got her attention, and when she gave him a look that asked if anything was wrong, he jabbed his thumb in the general direction of the two fighters.  
  
Nodoka smiled as Lum floated up next to Ataru. "I'll explain in a moment. Kaze, can you stop them please?"  
  
Kaze nodded before giving the two newcomers a questioning glance. The boy was a rather seedy looking character with messy brown hair and wearing a plain green sweatshirt with blue jeans. The one that worried him, however, was the rather buxom, green-haired young woman wearing a tiger skin bikini and possessing what appeared to be a pair of little yellow horns sticking out of her head.  
  
'Definitely a demon of some sort. Though she doesn't appear to hide it, and nobody's screaming, so she's probably not hostile. I should warn the Masters to keep an eye on her though.' "Master Shikodan! Master Saotome! I believe lunch is ready!"  
  
  
  
Ranma seemed to melt away from the blade as it weaved in and out of his guard, never managing to quite touch him, yet always seeming to get so close. There wasn't even really a point to it really. Both the combatants knew who was the better fighter, and the winner had been the same in every fight save one (Ranma still claimed the match was a fluke, though Rayden paid for the win a thousand times over the very next day).  
  
Somewhere, in the deep recesses of his mind, Ranma suddenly registered the word "lunch".  
  
Giving a quick kick to his attacker's face, Ranma used Rayden's head as a springboard, launching himself over his stunned opponent and towards his meal. Upon actually reaching the table, however, Ranma noted the absence of anything but tea and also noted the two new guests.  
  
Nodoka smiled and got up. "Ranma, you did wonderfully. I'm glad to see your father hasn't wasted his time in your training. I'd like to introduce you to your cousin, Ataru."  
  
Ranma blinked, and then looked at the guy she was referring to. This was his cousin? Thin, built like a spider actually, with a less-than-adorable face and an incredibly loose stance that indicated a total lack of any combat training. Not a thing like him.  
  
Ranma shrugged. Oh well, a relative's a relative.  
  
Ranma bowed. "Ranma Saotome. Nice ta' meetcha."  
  
Ataru nodded, but didn't make any effort to return the bow. "Ataru Moroboshi. Same to you, pal."  
  
"Saotome? You must be Auntie's son! She's told us so much about you!"  
  
Ranma looked up at the voluptious girl floating in midair. Weird.  
  
Nodoka coughed into her hand to gain everyone's attention, including Rayden's, who was currently scouring the table in search of food.  
  
"Ataru, Lum, these are Ranma's friends, Kaze Toren and Rayden Shikodan." The white priest stood up and bowed, while Rayden gave a quick wave as he opened the box next to the table, to find only teacups. "Kaze, Rayden, this is Ataru Moroboshi, Ranma's cousin and my nephew, and his wife, Lum."  
  
Kaze raised an eyebrow. Rayden's head shot up from where he was digging in the tea basket. How did a guy that looked like that land a babe like her? 'He must be the sweet, sensitive type.' After the initial shock wore off, his brain quickly directed its energies toward more important matters, like the search for food.  
  
Ranma blinked. "Wife?"  
  
Ataru groaned. "It's a long story. And she's not my wife!"  
  
Lum giggled and hugged Ataru from behind. "Oh Darling, you're so cute when you play hard to get!"  
  
Ranma blinked again and started having Shampoo flashbacks.  
  
"Yo Kaze, where's the grub?" Rayden had tired of searching for nothing.  
  
Nodoka smiled again and got up. "I'll go make some snacks. Why don't you get to know each other?"  
  
And with that she left for the kitchen, leaving the small group to stare at each other in silence.  
  
  
  
After what seemed like hours, Ataru decided to break the proverbial ice.  
  
"So, did you do that?" Ataru gestured toward the yard, or more specifically towards the splintered tree stump and 30-foot-wide crater.  
  
Ranma nodded. "Yup. Well, Rayden did most of it. I just helped." Ranma smirked as the swordsman started grumbling to himself and rubbed the sore spot where his neck had impacted the tree.  
  
Ranma turned back to Ataru. "We've spent most of our lives on the road training in martial arts."  
  
"Cool! Like Karate and stuff?"  
  
Rayden chuckled. "Yeah... 'and stuff'."  
  
Ataru grinned. "So, you meet any hot babes on the road?"  
  
Ranma looked at him like he had grown another head. After a 2 hour discussion about his love life with his mother, the last thing he wanted to talk about now was girls.  
  
"Darlingggggg..." Lum growled.  
  
Ataru immediately backed away and waved his arms in front of himself. "Just making conversation! Male bonding! That's all!"  
  
Rayden stood up and headed for the stairs. "Yeah, well, you guys stay here and bond, I'm gonna go find some snacks."  
  
Kaze didn't look up from sipping his tea as he spoke. "Life on the road offered few chances to associate with others. We made very few acquaintances, and even fewer were of the fairer sex."  
  
Ataru deflated instantly the moment his mind finished its translation.  
  
Kaze looked up to Lum with obvious interest, though it wasn't one of the lecherous stares that she had grown accustomed to. "So, Mistress Lum, would it be presumptious of me to assume that you are not human?"  
  
Lum blinked, then giggled. "No, I'm not human, I'm an oni!"  
  
It was Kaze's turn to blink. "An ogre?"  
  
Lum smiled, then tapped her horns.  
  
Ranma watched all this with partial interest. He really didn't care whether Lum was human or not, so long as she didn't go around town devouring or torturing people, but at the moment it was the most interesting topic there was.  
  
That was, of course, until the smell of food reached him. Ranma's head swivled around to see Rayden walk into the room, balancing several trays of food in both hands, his shoulders, and his head.  
  
"All right! Let's eat!" Ranma snatched one of the trays away and started shoveling it down, much to Nodoka's annoyance. Lum was amazed. She didn't think anyone could possibly have worse table manners than Ataru.  
  
"Ranma! Mind your manners! We have guests! Honestly, I've never seen anyone eat like that!"  
  
The second Ranma turned around to regard his mother, there was a blur of motion, and one of his sandwiches disappeared.  
  
"Hey! Rayden, you give that back!" Ranma yelled, even though the sandwich had already been hastily devoured.  
  
"You slow, you blow! Take it like a man! HEY!!" Rayden rushed to defend his plate as a rice ball seemed to vanish into thin air.  
  
  
  
The others in the room watched in silence as the two battled for dominance and nourishment, despite several untouched platters in the center of the table. Ataru looked on with amazement and newfound admiration, Lum with wonder, Kaze with indifference and Nodoka with disbelief and no small amount of disgust.  
  
"A-are they always like this?" Nodoka's left eye twitched as a small beef dish flew into the air, only barely intercepted by Ranma before it hit the wall.  
  
Kaze nodded solemnly. "Yes. Mr. Saotome was never put much importance into such things as table manners."  
  
Ataru was still impressed. "Wow! Look! You can't even see Ranma swallow, he does it so fast!"  
  
In moments, all the food on Ranma and Rayden's side of the table was gone, and the eating contest had degenerated into a wrestling match, with Rayden attempting to strangle Ranma as he was repeatedly punched in the head and chest.  
  
Nodoka would have none of it, though. "*AHEM* If you two are finished......"  
  
Both of the combatants stopped immediately, getting the sense that they had done something terribly wrong, but weren't quite sure what it was.  
  
Ataru quickly recognized the look she Nodoka was getting in her eyes and reacted accordingly. "Whoops! Look at the time! Sorry to eat and run, but Mom gets angry if I'm out past 7. See ya!" 'Losers,' he added mentally.  
  
Lum seemed confused. "But Darling, it's only 5 o'clock. Hey, wait!"  
  
Lum quickly took off after her psuedo-husband, leaving three rather baffled young men, and, well... Nodoka.  
  
Fingering an long, thin bundle that none of them had noticed before, Nodoka spoke in a voice as sweet as sugar. "Now son, let's have a little talk about your table manners, shall we?"  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
"That woman is creepy when she wants to be." Rayden's assessment was responded to by a punch to the back of the head, courtesy of Ranma.  
  
"Hey, shut up! That's my Mom! Why didn't you make a break for it, anyway?"  
  
Rayden shuddered. "Are you kidding? With the way she was holding that, that, that...... whatever it was? I couldn't move!"  
  
"It was probably a katana, or similar weapon." Kaze spoke with a tinge of distress in his voice. Even though he had not been involved in the earlier conversation, he still felt chills down his spine.  
  
"Well... whatever. Let's just get back to the dojo before dinner." Ranma licked his lips in anticipation. From what he had heard, Kasumi was quite the cook.  
  
"So... about the dojo... what're you gonna do about the whole engagement thing?" Rayden gave Ranma a sidelong glance, careful not to reveal the amusement of seeing his friend so uncomfortable.  
  
Ranma scratched the back of his head and sighed. "I dunno. I just think the whole thing is a totally stupid idea. But I've got that whole 'family honor' business goin' against me, so I guess I hafta marry one of them."  
  
Rayden snorted. "Feh. Honor is just a word somebody made up to get his opponents to play on his level. 'Don't hit an enemy when he's down.' 'Don't attack from behind.' It's all a bunch of nonsense."  
  
Ranma looked about ready to argue the point, but then he stopped and thought about it.  
  
That was when Kaze broke in. "While I do not entirely agree with Master Shikodan, he does have a point. The rest of that is all well and good, but I do not approve of a concept that would force you into a marriage."  
  
Now Ranma HAD to back down. One saying that him and Rayden had always held between them was "Kaze's word is law," seeing how neither of them could ever seem to offer an argument against him. While Rayden attributed this solely to his psychic powers, Ranma assumed it was part of the whole "greater understanding" deal that came with being an enlightened servant of the Gods and everything.  
  
"Okay, fine, but how do I go about dropping the whole thing? I can't just go in there and say 'I'm not going to marry your daughters. Sorry. Nothing personal.' I have a feeling that this is more important to Pop than that."  
  
Kaze chuckled lightly. "Well, of course you'd have to use more tact than that. But we'll deal with such things-!!!!" Kaze's head shot up suddenly, and he stopped walking.  
  
  
  
"Wha? Kaze? You all right?" Ranma started looking around, trying to see what had caused him to freeze.  
  
Kaze closed his eyes and concentrated. "There are two powerful energies nearby. They... they're of the same type as that demon that attacked us in China..."  
  
Rayden growled and unsheathed his sword. "All right, where are they?"  
  
"Over there! Look out!" Ranma jumped out of the way just as an energy blast shot through the stone wall next to him, barely singing him and slamming directly into Rayden.  
  
There was a mechanical hiss of air and a grinding noise as their attackers stepped through the rubble. What Ranma saw first was just weird.  
  
It was essentially a huge brown furry blob, with two white patches near the top that seemed to be the eyes. What was really odd though, was that the entire thing had been strung through with metal wires and tubes, and where most creatures had arms and legs, it had the mechanical equivalent of such.  
  
The second was more of a "traditional" demon. It was even bigger than the last, and seemed to have muscle flowing over ever inch of its yellow body. Instead of legs, it had a single snake-like tail that kept it upright. Its hands had three fingers with long, curved claws. The head had a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, and it had three eyes, all stacked on top of each other up to its forehead. the first two were black and horizontal, like a human's but without an iris, while the top one was slitted vertically and held a pupil that was bright yellow.  
  
  
  
Rayden recovered from the attack and caught a glimpse of their opponents. "Damn, you're ugly!"  
  
The cybernetic monster advanced a few feet, then a gravelly voice emanated from a tiny metal speaker just below the creature's eyes. "Targets identified: Kaze Toren. Rayden Shikodan. Secondary target Ranma Saotome also present."  
  
"Hey, what makes me a secondary target?" Ranma complained.  
  
"Question is illogical, so it will be ignored. I am Rotor. My companion is Bit. We have come to destroy those that defeated Rail."  
  
Rayden crouched low. "Easier said than done, rust-bucket. What makes you think that you can beat us when your friend got thrashed so easily?"  
  
"Analasys complete: we regenerate in the same manner as Rail. There are no magical springs to pose a threat to us here."  
  
Rayden sweatdropped. "Okay, that's pretty good."  
  
Ranma growled. If these things were invincible, then this was going to be tough. "Enough talking! Let's get on with this!"  
  
Rotor lifted one of his arms, and the various blades and pipes rearranged themselves to form some kind of gun. "Your offer is acceptable. You will be terminated." The cybernetic monster raised its arm and fired.  
  
Bit slammed his fists together and gave an excited yell. "Rashkara yuta! RAAARRRGH!!!"  
  
Ranma easily avoided the blast, and watched as the other demon charged Rayden, knocking the swordsman backward and through a wall on the opposite side of the street.  
  
"Master Saotome! Hold them off for a few moments, please!" Ranma nodded at Kaze's request, and charged Rotor the moment he touched the ground again. Rotor fired again, and this time Ranma slid under the beam as he approached his target. Forcing himself up with one hand, Ranma kicked upward, sending the demon sprawling as he completed a backflip to right himself. Not giving the creature time to recover, or regenerate, Ranma closed in with his fists, hitting Rotor several times in quick succesion with one hand before following up with a glowing ki-powered uppercut with his other. There was a *crack* as several metal objects inside the creature shattered from the force, and Rotor seemed to collapse in on himself, almost deflating, as he lay there next to the shattered remains of the wall he had attacked from.  
  
"Well, I better go see how Ray's doing." Ranma was about to leave to help his friend, when there was the crackle of electricity behind him. His left eye twitching slightly, Ranma turned around, to see Rotor's twin hydraulic legs hefting up his impressive bulk.  
  
"Would it be too much to ask that you stay dead? This is really starting to annoy me."  
  
"Question is illogical. It will be ignored." Rotor thrust out his other hand, and the multiple blades and hinges started to take the shape of something halfway between a claw and a sawblade.  
  
It attacked. Ranma ducked, then crossed his arms in front of him. "Tobu kaibutsu semeru!"  
  
  
  
*Crash!* The stone and plaster crumbled easily before Rayden's body as he slammed into the building at high speed.  
  
"Ow. That hurt," he said simply, pushing a wall off of him. Just as he was dusting off his shoulder Bit slithered into view, his vast bulk casting a shadow over the swordsman.  
  
It gave a deep, throaty chuckle. "Histat, ke-shata sorto!"  
  
Rayden gave it a flat stare. "Sorry, I don't speak freakish. Hyaah!" In one smooth motion he made a horizontal slash into the creature's belly, spilling out blood along with a few other unidentifiable liquids. The monster doubled over and howled, its top eye staying focused on Rayden and promising the puny mortal a world of pain.  
  
Soon the cut had healed, and Bit stood up to his full height, bringing all of its hefty muscles to bear.  
  
Rayden was not impressed. "Hey stupid, you gonna just pose there all day, or are you gonna fight?"  
  
At first he thought that the veins that started to pop out all over the hefty demon was just a sign that it was angry. He decided that it something slightly more dangerous as Bit's entire body suddenly bulged out, then retracted itself, but not fully returning to its normal size. Rayden watched him do this three more times, until he was sure the demon had gained at least two feet in height and a lot of muscle.  
  
Bit swung its tail in a low sweep. Rayden yelped and jumped over it, opting to give his enemy a blade in the face while he was up there. Bit howled in pain and slashed wildly with his claws, managing to land a good hit while Rayden was returning to the ground.  
  
Rayden winced as blood oozed from the gash in his shoulder. Normally a claw attack would barely produce a flesh wound, but this sucker was STRONG!!  
  
"All right loser! It's time to say GOODBYE!!! Iczer beam!!" Rayden cupped his hands together in the classic DBZ ki-attack pose, and a thick beam of white light blasted forth from his hands, exploding on contact with its target and throwing it outside where Ranma and Rotor were fighting.  
  
Jumping over the crater his attack had created, Rayden came down on top of Bit with a flying kick, only to be hastily swatted out of the air by the creature's tail. Growling as he impacted the ground, Rayden got up and pointed his blade at an angle behind him. "Shine kurai ha!!" Bit never knew what hit him as Rayden's form seemed to blur and slowly float toward him. Then his small, dark world exploded into pain as a sharp, massive blades thirsting for blood seemed to cross every cell, every pore of his body, stabbing deep and then retracting to strike somewhere else.  
  
Rayden finished off his attack with a flourish, cutting a huge, semicircular gouge out of Bit's chest before sheathing his sword in a rather impressive display of control and momentum. Bit's body exploded into blood and shredded skin before the whole mass was engulfed in crimson flame, and a glowing red form seemed to form from the ashes.  
  
Rayden gave an annoyed look as Bit's body came back from the dead. "Goddamn it, don't you knuckleheads know when to quit? Well, at least you're back to normal size now."  
  
Bit gave a tremendous roar into the air before slashing down at his foe, only to get his hand cut off. He was about to give a second tremendous roar, when Kaze yelled.  
  
  
  
"Master Shikodan! Master Saotome! Stop!" Rayden stopped, and suprisingly, so did Bit. Rotor slammed into the ground hard, and Ranma landed near Kaze.  
  
"What is it? We're kind of in a life-and-death situation, you know?" Ranma didn't mean to be rude, but fighting things that you couldn't knock out or kill was already taking its toll.  
  
The white priest understood, however, and merely smiled before holding up two slips of paper with very arcane-looking runes on them. "These should take care of them. Simply bring them to a point of ressurection and I'll finish them off with these."  
  
Bit blinked. He didn't understand a word of any human language, but judging by the way Rotor started looking unusually panicked, and by the cruel grin the human Ranma now had, things had probably taken a turn for the worse on his side.  
  
Rayden quickly put some distance between himself and the two demons as Ranma's aura lit up and turned from blue to red.  
  
"RYU HI KOSEN!!!"  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
"Oh, hi Kasumi." Ranma greeted her almost off-handedly as he entered the house, then fell down on the nearest couch, looking rather winded.  
  
Rayden came in next. He didn't look as tired as Ranma, but he did have several tears and bloodstains in his trench coat, even if his skin showed not even a scar.  
  
Kaze came in last, looking as good and calm as he did when he left, if not a little happier. He was also chatting with Rayden.  
  
"So you're saying they're not dead?"  
  
Kaze shook his head. "I'm sorry Master Shikodan, but all I could do was return them to their home plane. If we tracked them down there we could finish them, but for now they are beyond our grasp."  
  
"Well that sucks."  
  
Nabiki had remained quiet up until then, but now chose to speak up. "Something happen to you?"  
  
Ranma and Rayden looked at each other. "Don't ask." At that they both left for their room, and thankfully sleep.  
  
Kaze chuckled. "It's been a hard day for them, let them be. Now, may I ask where Mr. Saotome is?"  
  
Kasumi spoke up cheerfully next to him. "Oh, he disappeared somewhere around lunchtime. But we did find the cutest little panda out in the backyard!"  
  
Kaze slapped his forehead. "Oh dear... uh, where is it now?"  
  
Nabiki shrugged. "Ask animal control."  
  
Kaze sighed and went right out the front door again.  
  
Kasumi blinked. "I wonder what that was all about?"  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
"You have failed me." The entity said it without implication, without remorse, and without emotion.  
  
Rotor wasn't capable of expressing much emotion, but if he was, he would've been expressing fear. As it was, the most logical outcome he could reach was his own death. Bit, on the contrary, was trembling like a baby, his wailing and begging not doing his terrifying visage justice in the least.  
  
A black, oozing tantacle whipped out and slapped Bit across the face. "Do not show me such a pathetic display. It's truly sad to see a creature of your stature turned to such a state of cowardice. You both were given extra-planar bodies, indestructible forms, and yet the best you could do was a few measly scratches on the big one with the sword. Did you at least manage to bleed a little on the priest?"  
  
"Saotome was a far greater threat, or at least it seemed that way at the time. Once we had subdued Saotome and Shikodan, the next logical step was to kill Toren." Rotor's words sounded far more confident than he was.  
  
"FOOL!!! Do you think those of the White Star are so easily taken care of? That man, Kaze could probably have crushed both of you with greater ease than those other two. The secret of your ressurrection is out, and I do hope your next assault is not so witlessly planned!" Their leader turned and left, leaving the two high demons in a state of both relief and near heart-attack (well, Bit was, at least. Rotor didn't have an organic heart).  
  
Then, from the direction that it had left, their master's voice echoes forth from the darkness. "I will be sending Bolt and Nail with you next time, and will be observing the battle personally. If you lose again, you had better make sure your performance is entertaining. Or else."  
  
Wordlessly their master left, dissolving into the shadows of the temple grounds without a trace.  
  
As it left, however, its head was swirling with questions. 'Who is this Saotome boy? Where did he come from? What are his intentions?' Well, with any luck it wouldn't matter in a week, but it was still curious.  
  
  
  
*************************************************************************** *******  
  
  
  
End Chapter 3 


	4. Furinkan Fury!

Nexus  
  
Chapter 4  
  
a Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura crossover (starting now, more or less)  
  
by Black Dragon  
  
revcoll@peoplepc.com  
  
http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/fanficlair/index.html  
  
Standard disclaimer applies. Don't sue me, for though I have no money, I do control my army of original characters, who will hunt you down and tear you lawyers limb from limb! Same goes for you Akane-lovers and your flames!  
  
  
  
As for continuity, obviously this takes the Ranma 1/2 story from the beginning, but as far as UY goes, it's a little bit after Mendo shows up.  
  
  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Furinkan Fury!  
  
*************************************************************************** *******  
  
  
  
Ranma awoke from his slumber groggily, vaguely aware of a bright flash of light coming from the window of the guest bedroom. Yawning deeply, he looked around the room.  
  
Rayden was on the futon right next to him, sleeping like a baby per the norm. Kaze and Genma were MIA though.  
  
Getting up, he walked over to the window and looked down to see the aforementioned individuals talking.  
  
  
  
As usual, Kaze was in his 'just how stupid are you nevermind I can read your thoughts' lecture mode, while Genma was ignoring him, totally focused on muttering about the injustice of having to live with a little panda floating above his head.  
  
  
  
Ranma sighed, then closed the window. After deciding that a night in the animal depository would be good for Genma, Kaze had talked to him about going to school for the rest of the time he was here. All in all how it was a good idea. Ranma had never had a particular love for education (as could be said for many, many others), and technically there was nobody around that could make him go to school, but it was always hard to argue with Kaze.  
  
Still, that didn't mean he had to wear a uniform. Ranma smiled and picked out his white sleeveless shirt and put it on. After school, he thought he'd run over to his mother's place for a talk, maybe get to know her better, and let her know more about himself.  
  
Ranma grimaced. 'But first school.'  
  
Looking at the clock, Ranma saw that it was too early for breakfast, as well as too early to wake Rayden up for practice. Shrugging to himself, he leapt out the window and into the backyard.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Kaze turned around as he felt another presence land softly behind him. "Up rather early today, master Saotome?"  
  
Ranma nodded. "I figured I'd go out for an early morning jog or somethin'."  
  
"Nonsense boy!" Ranma had to bite his tongue not to laugh looking at the tiny panda loll around on his father's head.  
  
"You've been slacking off in your training recently! I have a new training technique that will-"  
  
Ranma grabbed his father by the collar, then slammed him on the ground over his shoulder.  
  
"There's nothing more you have to teach me Pops!" Ranma flipped his pigtail over his shoulder and walked out of the backyard, hopping over the fence.  
  
Genma growled as he got up. "You show your father some respect, boy!"  
  
Kaze, who had remained silent during the exchange, calmly stuck a slip of paper to Genma's leg. Ice shot up around the ward, freezing the entire bottom half of the man's body.  
  
Kaze coughed into his hand. "I wasn't quite done, Saotome. Now you see, it's important that you either admit this curse to the Tendos or come see me after the spells wears off. You can't imagine the mechanics required in purging a soul with such strong magical bonds......"  
  
Genma would've cried had he not been of the very strong opinion that it was unmanly. With Ranma or Rayden he would've just been beaten unconscious. Kaze would paralzyed him, then drone on and on about right and wrong (or some such garbage. He never actually paid attention).  
  
Oh, the humanity!  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Nerima was a funny place.  
  
Well, funny if you were a martial artist, or an extraterrestrial enthusiast, or if you just had a sick sense of humor.  
  
As it was, you'd never recognize the peaceful suburban mornings of this district of Tokyo as actually being part of Nerima.  
  
Which was why Akane always loved taking her morning jogs. Sure, there were other reasons; she had to keep her figure, and the exercise was good for her, but it was the unusual peace and tranquility that really appealed to her. This was the only time of day that she got a break from her usual martial arts practice, that is to say, the massacre of her suitors and the various perverts.  
  
Thus, she was so surprised when she suddenly saw a black and white blur appear and start jumping all over the place, that she tripped over her own feet and fell down onto the concrete walk.  
  
Picking herself up, she watched as the blur zoomed across on the fence next to the canal, then jumped off clear to the other side of the street, rebounding off of a house and jumping on roofs. She'd never been witness to a flea that had ingested caffeinated blood, but she imagined that it would act something like this.  
  
Eventually the blur seemed to take notice of her, and jumped off a nearby car with such care as to not disturb the dew. With that Ranma alighted on a street light, and looked down at his spectator.  
  
"Hey Akane. What're you doin' out here this early?"  
  
Akane blinked, then adopted a rather angry expression. "I'm jogging! What the hell do you think YOU'RE doing?!"  
  
Ranma shrugged. "More or less the same, I guess."  
  
Akane glared at him. "That is NOT jogging. That is bouncing around like a four-year old who drank a quadruple mocha."  
  
Ranma shrugged. "Whatever. It's the only way I can work up a sweat by just moving. Good speed practice too."  
  
Akane couldn't think of anything particularly nasty to say to that, so she just jogged away. To her irritation, Ranma followed her, walking backward on the fence while looking around, and still managed to keep pace.  
  
She turned on him angrily. "Don't you have anything better to do?!"  
  
Ranma shook his head. "Nope. I usually don't get up this early, so I'm just taking a scenic run right now."  
  
Akane gave off a low growl. "Do you have to follow me?"  
  
He shrugged again. "Sorta. You know your way around. I could get lost or somethin'."  
  
Akane stopped and kicked the fence. "That's a great idea! Get lost!"  
  
Ranma's balance never wavered as the fence shook violently. "Geez! What's your problem?!"  
  
"What's my problem?! I'm out here trying to enjoy a nice, peaceful walk by myself, and then you come along, showing off and bothering me! And probably to stare at me in my jogging outfit! I haven't forgotten what happened in the bathroom!"  
  
"You walked in on me and Ray. We saw you naked. You mauled us. I haven't forgotten either," he said dryly.  
  
Akane's brain was rushing for a good retort to defend herself, when Ranma spoke up again.  
  
"Hey, it's Ataru." Ranma looked over to where his cousin was apparently also jogging, and holding a conversation with a group of girls from a track team. Well, he wasn't holding a conversation so much as he was trying to talk to them while they set a pace to try and tire him out enough to leave him behind.  
  
Akane's mind whirled away from the up and coming retort, and refocused on the new topic of discussion. She growled as she realized that her jogging path would take her right into Ataru's path. Akane hated boys, and Ataru was the shining symbol of everything she hated about them.  
  
"They're lecherous, persistent, stupid, greedy, perverted, lazy, weak........." Akane began ticking off each of the male gender's bad points as she closed the distance between the two groups.  
  
Ranma chose to ignore her as the other group came closer. Unfortunately for the girls of the track team, it seemed Ataru was a match for any one of them on the streets, practice and experience with running (both after or away from girls) allowed him to keep pace, as well as regulate his breathing enough to continue asking for dates.  
  
  
  
Yuka, who was third in the line of runners (she had joined the team to keep her busy in her spare time plus keep her figure), quickly spotted her friend heading toward them on an intercept course and grinned.  
  
"Hi Akane!"  
  
Ataru screeched to a halt. It came as a huge surprise to everyone that knew him that Ataru did not pursue Akane to any degree, and in fact avoided her (as much as one could possibly expect him to avoid an attractive girl, anyway). This was stemmed mostly from the fact that Ataru had grown up in the same area as her, and as such had seen the way she treated men. Ataru always had an aversion to violence, but it took an especially violent woman to keep him away.  
  
Akane oozed violence like Bug-B-Gone, and considering that to her, Ataru was little more than a particularly annoying insect, his reaction was understandable. She had grown up hating him, even though he was the one boy that actively avoided her, and had taken every opportunity to remind him and others of what he was, and exactly where that put him on Akane's 'Scale of Things That Need to be Malleted' (tm).  
  
For Ataru's part, he didn't see what all the fuss was about. He had simply decided early on that trying to date Akane was far more trouble than it was worth. Personally, he didn't know why all those other guys bothered with her. Sure, she was cute and strong, but there were cuter girls, and the latter wasn't necessarily a good thing. She couldn't cook, she was violent, she had incredible strength when enraged, and she tended to get enraged quite easily. He actually considered her to be all of Lum and Shinobu's bad points put together and given flesh.  
  
In any case, he stood there, head drooping pathetically, as he watched the group of thin, tightly clad girls enter Akane's Zone of Terror (tm) unharmed and safe from his advancements.  
  
Akane glared at him, and he back off slightly, deciding to take a route around and disappear from sight. He could always track them down later.  
  
Deciding that the pervert was going to be smart and make himself scarce, Akane started chatting amiably with Yuka, who had stopped with the rest of the team to catch their breath after their accelerated run.  
  
Then a voice made itself known. "Hey Ataru! You out for some exercise too?" Ranma grinned and sat down on the fence, gesturing for him to come closer.  
  
Ataru smiled, and then with an excuse to approach that wouldn't be considered perverted, jogged up to the group.  
  
Akane scowled, then glared at Ranma. Figures the perverts would stick together. She made sure Ataru saw her close a fist and shake it slightly, warning very clearly that any groping or such things would win him an instant trip to a new world of pain.  
  
Yuka blinked, then matched the voice to a person and looked up. "Ranma! What are you doing here?"  
  
Ranma looked down and smiled. "Hey! Nice to see you again! You in track?"  
  
She blushed slightly as Akane and the other members of her team looked at her questioningly. "Yeah I am. You?"  
  
Ranma leaned back slightly, and many of the girls thought he was going to fall over backward (and one was hoping he did), but he somehow kept his balance as if he didn't even notice. "I'm just out for a little running. Gotta keep in shape, you know?" He grinned and made a brief muscle gesture. Some of the girls started drooling. "Say, you go to Furinkan, right?"  
  
Yuka shook her head to try and forget the way Ranma's sleek arm muscles moved when he flexed, especially in a sleeveless shirt. "Yeah, I go there."  
  
Ranma smiled again. "Cool! I'm going there starting today. I'll see you around, all right? Ataru, come on!"  
  
Ataru's head drooped again as he realized he would have to leave the track team anyway, then sighed, resigned to his fate.  
  
Akane watched them run down the street and turn a corner. 'Hmph! Good riddance to bad rubbish!'  
  
She was about to start jogging home alongside Yuka, when all the other girls in the group suddenly rounded on her.  
  
"Who WAS that guy?!"  
  
"He's a total hunk!"  
  
"Are you two dating?"  
  
"Yuka, you're so lucky!"  
  
"Would you mind sharing?"  
  
Yuka mostly ignored the questions (except for the last one; she glared at the girl who had said that) and blushed in embarrassment. Akane rolled her eyes and started jogging away.  
  
'Weirdos. What do they see in him anyway?' Akane didn't know why Yuka would be interested in a stupid, perverted jock like Ranma, but she vowed that it was her duty to defend her friend from the hentai's advances. If Ranma ever laid a finger on Yuka, she'd make him wish he was never born!  
  
Smiling darkly at the thought, Akane rounded the corner.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
"So anyway, I was thinking you could fill me in on what Furinkan's like. I've never really attended school for very long, so I really don't know what to expect."  
  
Ataru shrugged, totally unconcerned that his cousin was walking casually along the top of the fence.  
  
"It wouldn't matter if you did. Furinkan's not like other schools. For one thing, the fighter population is rather high. I think you'll fit right in there. Lessee...... the Principal's a jerk, though he's just filling in really, since the real principal is on an extended vacation somewhere, I forget... Sakura, the nurse, is a real babe... uh, there's Lum, who isn't registered as a student, but tends to hang around there just to bother me... oh yeah! And then there are the two rich dorks, Tatewaki Kuno and Shutaro Mendo!"  
  
Ranma blinked. "Rich dorks?"  
  
Ataru nodded gravely. "Uh huh. Rich, snobby, narcisstic weirdos. Kuno is the captain of the Kendo team and is always swinging around his wooden bokken to intimidate people. He's also obsessed with Akane and Lum, and made this weird decree involving Tendo. With Lum, he just calls me a sorcerer that has cast a spell on her to seduce her, then attacks me until Lum zaps him into the ground. Mendo uses a steel blade, but he's no good with it. He's also less delusional and violent than Kuno. He's also obsessed with Lum, but he likes to keep his distance from Tendo like me. Both of them are total jerks."  
  
Ataru had communicated all this information so quickly and casually, it took Ranma's brain a good amount of time to digest and organize the data.  
  
"Uh...... Kuno thinks you're a sorcerer?"  
  
Ataru nodded gravely. "Yeah. That delusional creep never has anything better to do than pick on me. Worse yet, the only way to get rid of him is to find Lum so she can shock him unconscious! *Sigh* Saotome, you have no idea what kind of tortures I've endured growing up with these freaks!" He looked up at Ranma compassionately, searching for some hearfelt sympathy.  
  
Ranma, for his part, found what he was hearing far too surreal to be able to sympathize properly.  
  
"Uh... yeah, that sucks man. You mentioned something about this Kuno guy making a decree toward Akane?"  
  
Ataru's demeanor immediately cleared up and he shrugged. "Something about how whoever wanted to date Akane has to beat her in combat first. For some reason, a bunch of the guys in the various althletic teams accepted this thing as fair play, so every morning now they all attack her as soon as she steps through the gates to school. She beats them all every time, including Kuno."  
  
Ranma sweatdropped. "Sounds....... weird."  
  
Ataru shrugged again. "Welcome to Nerima."  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Nabiki yawned and stretched as she got up from her bed, swatting the alarm clock awkwardly as she struggled to find the 'off' button with one hand.  
  
She saw Akane getting up to her room after her morning jog to change, muttering about revenge and perverts. Nothing particularly unusual.  
  
She got down and nodded to acknowledge Kasumi, who smiled and greeted her as she set the table for breakfast.  
  
Soon Kaze and Genma came in from the front yard, and soon after that Ranma arrived and said a general hello before seating and serving himself.  
  
Soun came in with his paper, then frowned confusedly as he noticed someone was missing.  
  
"Um, where's the other boy? Shikodan?"  
  
"Sleeping." The three replies came simultaneously and without hesitation, though not a single one of them had been up to the room they shared.  
  
  
  
Genma finished his plate in record time, then made a grab for Ranma's food. His chopsticks were stopped short, however, as Ranma simply grabbed them in his fist, then snapped them with a quick motion. Genma stared, dumbfounded.  
  
"Mom said I should improve my table manners, and Kaze suggested that I start by not fighting you every meal. So lay off, all right?" Ranma snapped, irritably.  
  
Genma took a moment to register the sentence. "Your mother?! What?!"  
  
Ranma blinked, then remembered that Genma didn't know about that yet. "Oh yeah, I met her yesterday while we were out lookin' over the place."  
  
Nabiki's interest heightened. "Your mom lives around here, huh? What's her name?"  
  
Ranma turned towards her. "Nodoka Saotome."  
  
Nabiki rolled the name over in her head. Sounded familiar. "Wait. Nodoka Saotome is Ataru's aunt. Which would make you......... Ataru's cousin?"  
  
Everyone native to Nerima stopped and stared at Ranma. Even Kasumi, who held the belief that it was impolite to stare. Everyone there had heard of the legendary lecher Ataru. Nabiki had frequently cleaned out his pockets offering him 'protection' from having Lum find him. Protection in the sense that the Oni didn't find out from her. Not having the word go into circulation costed extra.  
  
Ranma nodded, unsure as to why he was suddenly the center of attention. "Yeah, I met him at Mom's place. Nice guy. Weird, but friendly."  
  
Nabiki blinked. She'd never heard Moroboshi described that way. Well, she'd heard of him being described as weird, but the rest of it was new.  
  
Akane suddenly shot up. "Ah ha! You're related to that pervert! I knew it! It must run in the family!"  
  
Ranma sighed and went back to eating, ignoring her. Everybody else just took a moment to stare at her.  
  
Flushing, she sat back down and took a sip of juice.  
  
  
  
Ranma turned back to Genma, who had no interest in Ranma's relatives, and was still musing over how to approach his wife now that she had already met with her son again. "By the way, Mom wants you to drop by today. Here's her address." Ranma handed him a slip of paper.  
  
Genma looked at it.  
  
Soun smiled, then patted him on the back. "Well Saotome, how about that? Getting to see your wife again after all these years! Why don't Kasumi and I come too? It'll be wonderful to see Nodoka again!"  
  
Genma raised an eyebrow at that. With Tendo there, he could announce the engagement in front of Nodoka, and then Soun would argue the case for him! "That's a fine idea Tendo! We'll leave right away!"  
  
Then his mind hit a snag. The engagement. What became of that?  
  
Ranma hadn't chosen a fiancee yet!  
  
Genma was about to make this fact known to the rest of the assembled people, when he was interrupted by two of them leaving.  
  
"I have to go! See you after school!"  
  
"Goodbye Nabiki!"  
  
Akane frowned, then grabbed her bag and got up. "Nabiki, wait! I'll go with you!"  
  
Nabiki poked her head back into the room. "What about Ranma? He doesn't know the way."  
  
Ranma got up himself, then grabbed a bag sitting against the wall and walked out the door past Nabiki. "Don't worry about it. I'll get there. See ya!" Ranma jumped as soon as he got outside, taking to the rooftops and going in a direction that did not lead to Furinkan.  
  
Nabiki shrugged and left in the proper direction, Akane close behind her.  
  
Kasumi gathered up the dishes and left.  
  
  
  
Genma looked around, finding himself alone with Kaze and Soun, the latter of which had collapsed into tears after reminiscing about his friendship with Genma while they were both happily married.  
  
Kaze sipped the last of his tea, then stood up. "Saotome, Master Tendo, I will accompany you." He said simply.  
  
Genma glanced uneasily at the priest. He definitely did NOT want a psychic around when he met Nodoka. She might ask him something important, and Kaze had a nasty habit of 'correcting' his stories whenever he made a slight variation or left out an important detail.  
  
"I'm sorry Toren, but this is a family affair." Genma said. He sounded just as sorry as he was.  
  
"Master Tendo is coming, as well as Mistress Kasumi." Kaze pointed out flatly.  
  
Genma struggled to compensate. "Er... yes... well... with the upcoming engagement, our two houses will be joined and he will become family!"  
  
Kaze nodded. "Of course. Then you can surely allow the presence of one adopted into your clan. Thank you for granting my meager request." He bowed deeply.  
  
Genma was mentally thrown off-balance. He hated that man. He really did.  
  
Soun clapped him on the shoulder. "Oh, come now Saotome, of course he can come! We're all family here!"  
  
Kaze nodded appreciatively.  
  
Genma groaned. It was going to be a long day.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Ranma walked along the fence, adjusting his pace so that Ataru could keep up with him easily.  
  
"So then Lum thinks we're married all of a sudden! It's stupid! Now, every time I even flirt with another girl, she blasts me with a lightning bolt!"  
  
Ranma nodded. He could more or less sympathize, as he had just come back from that whole mess with the Amazons. The other part about flirting though.........  
  
"So why don't you just stop flirting? I mean, you already have Lum, and she likes you, right?" Ranma really didn't get the whole deal. Admittedly, he was mostly ignorant about interpersonal relationships and dating, but it still sounded feasible to him.  
  
Ataru snorted. "Please. I am not a one-woman man." He grinned and flexed his arms. "This body was made for love! To grace the mattresses of many babes! To settle down in my prime would be to deprive the world!" he spoke passionately, as if somehow he managed to believe it.  
  
Ranma sweatdropped. "Right......... okay.........."  
  
Ataru dropped the whole act and turned toward Ranma. "So anyway, don't get in my way, alright? Certain girls are off-limits. Sakura, Shinobu, Ran........." Ataru started counting off names. Ranma started to ignore him, then noticed that they were coming up on Furinkan.  
  
  
  
Akane stood in the middle of the field out in the front, breathing heavily. Boys' bodies lied around her, groaning painfully.  
  
Ranma jumped off the fence as a rose was thrown from a nearby tree at Akane. She caught it, then glared at the person who threw it.  
  
Ataru caught up with Ranma.  
  
"What fools these mortals be, that they would presume to beat the fierce Akane Tendo in combat to date with thee......" The boy who had said it was about as tall as Kaze, and wore a blue kendo outfit. On his shoulder rested a wooden bokken.  
  
Akane growled. "Let's just get this over with, all right? I have to get to class!"  
  
Ranma jabbed a thumb at the kendoist. "Hey Ataru, is this that Kuno guy you were talking about?"  
  
Kuno's gaze oriented on where the name 'Ataru' came from, and found himself staring at a boy he had never seen before. Behind him, nodding, was the cowardly sorcerer, and his own sworn enemy.  
  
"So, I see the foul Moroboshi has decided to come out of the shadows and face heaven's punishment!" Kuno turned and bowed apologetically to Akane. "I'm afraid our match will have to be delayed, fair maiden. The vanquishing of the demon lecher Moroboshi takes precedence."  
  
Akane snorted and walked away. "Fine. Go kill each other."  
  
"Hey, why don't you pick on somebody your own size, creep?" Ranma suddenly stood firmly in-between Ataru and Kuno, challenging the older boy.  
  
Kuno raised an eyebrow. "I have no quarrel with you, peasant, so I suggest you make yourself scarce. What is between me and the sorcerer is our business."  
  
Ranma growled. "Then I'm making it my business! I don't like guys who beat up on those who can't defend themselves!"  
  
  
  
Up in the windows of the classrooms, many students were shocked at seeing the new, handsome stranger challenging Kuno, and even more shocked that he would do so to defend Ataru.  
  
  
  
Ataru, for his part, certainly wasn't used to being defended by anyone other than Lum, but figured that he might as well milk this for all it was worth.  
  
"Yeah! Leave me alone! You can hound Lum all you want, I don't care!"  
  
Kuno had lost interest in him, however, and was now completely focused on this new obstacle.  
  
"You have courage, man, in facing me. However, know that it is for naught. For I am Tatewaki Kuno, age 17, captain of the-"  
  
Ranma interrupted him, already getting bored. "Yeah yeah, I know who you are. Captain of the Kendo club, undefeated, blah blah blah. Look, why don't we save this for lunch, alright? Class starts in 3 minutes!"  
  
Kuno's face reddened. "Very well! At lunch today you shall know your place, fool!" Furious at being dismissed so casually, he stomped inside.  
  
  
  
Ataru slapped Ranma on the back. "Hey, thanks man. Kuno's gonna be ticked though. He's really good with that bokken, too."  
  
Ranma snorted, then shoved his hands in his pockets. "Hmph. I'll deal with it. Let's get going."  
  
  
  
Up above, the situation was chaotic.  
  
"Did that guy seriously just challenge Kuno?"  
  
"No! He's too cute to die!"  
  
"It's too bad. I'd really like to see Kuno get his sometime."  
  
Nabiki's voice broke the flow of whispers and speculations. "I might have some info on him that you might be interested in."  
  
The assembled crowd looked at her, then started searching their pockets.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Meanwhile, in another classroom, rumors and whispers of a different sort were being spread. It was because of this that everyone in that particular classroom missed the scene with Kuno in the front of the school.  
  
Lum had earlier let it slip that her darling's cousin just recently showed up, and that he would be attending Furinkan.  
  
The responses ranged from 'Oh ****, would someone put us out of our misery', to 'Well that sucks'. Naturally, the former response came from many of the girls, while the latter was from the boys.  
  
  
  
"I can't believe it! Another ugly pervert! What have we done to deserve this?" Saiyuri wailed.  
  
"Well, come on. He's only Ataru's cousin. Maybe they won't be very similar after all." Yuka had already decided to move away with most of the rest of the girls, but decided to put up an optomistic front.  
  
Akane just muttered to herself quietly in the back of the classroom.  
  
The guys, who didn't share quite the same level of hatred for Ataru, had started to ask Lum for more details.  
  
Mendo grunted. "Please. No doubt anyone that shares the same bloodline as Moroboshi would turn out to be just as despicable a human being as he is. This is exactly why certain people should not reproduce, in my opinion."  
  
Lum blinked, as she sat cross-legged while floating in the air. "Well I don't know about that. He's really not that bad at all."  
  
  
  
"Your attention please!"  
  
In an instant, Ataru had the class's attention. They had been so busy talking about him and making predictions about his relatives that they hadn't even noticed when he had entered the room.  
  
Half the class's attention was lost just as quickly as they all noticed the guy standing next to him.  
  
Most of the girls just started mentally yelling, 'Yowza! Who's the stud?!'  
  
Yuka's thoughts were a bit muddled, but then she put two and two together, and her eyes widened.  
  
Akane ignored them all.  
  
Lum floated up behind Ataru.  
  
Ataru coughed. "As class president, I'd like to introduce my cousin, Ranma Saotome, who will be attending this class from now on. Any questions?" Ataru looked around, wondering why everyone was staring.  
  
A few more moments passed, then the entire class fell out of their chairs all at once, with the exception of Akane, and the three aforementioned individuals.  
  
Ataru looked over the teacher's desk. "What's the matter?"  
  
Yuka pointed to Ranma uneasily. "HE'S related to... you?"  
  
Ataru blinked, then slowly nodded. "Yes. He's my cousin. Any other questions?"  
  
A girl in the back raised her hand. "Is he single?"  
  
Ataru shrugged. "Yeah, I think so."  
  
Ranma coughed, trying to remind the people that he was still there. Ataru turned toward him.  
  
"Anyway, why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"  
  
Ranma scratched the back of his head unconsciously. "Well, I've been training in martial arts for most of my life, and up until a few days ago, I was in China on a training journey. That's about all there is to it, really."  
  
"Wow! A martial artist!"  
  
"That must be how he got that body!"  
  
Yuka thought about making it clear that she had already staked him out, but decided that it'd probably cause more trouble than it would prevent at the moment.  
  
"Hmph. A thug. He's obviously no better than Moroboshi with muscle." Mendo had been feeling miffed that this newcomer had attracted so much attention, and thought to make his opinion clear.  
  
Ataru jabbed Ranma with his elbow and whispered, "Mendo."  
  
The teacher cleared his throat, then walked up to the desk, gesturing Ataru aside. "Yes, well, Saotome, you may take that seat near the back, next to miss Tendo."  
  
Akane growled slightly and gave him a warning glare. Ranma glared back as he took his seat.  
  
  
  
From there class went by pretty normally, as Lum had decided to leave earlier.  
  
The teacher wrote an algebra problem on the board, then decided to test the new student's knowledge.  
  
"Saotome, can you tell me how to solve this?" He turned the individual in question.  
  
"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz............"  
  
Then he facefaulted, as Ranma was snoring softly, one arm on his desk as a pillow, and the other arm hanging limply at his side. Most of the class started giggling.  
  
The teacher got angry, and threw a piece of chalk at Ranma. His limp hand suddenly shot up and slapped it away.  
  
The entire class blinked as one.  
  
Daisuke poked him with a pencil. Nothing. "Nope. He's asleep all right."  
  
The teacher threw an eraser. It went flying. A book. He caught it, then dropped it on the ground as his arm went limp again.  
  
By this time the teacher was furious. Then he noticed the way the Tendo girl was looking at him, and grinned evilly. "Oh, miss Tendo? Would you be so kind as to help wake up Saotome?" The entire class, save Akane herself winced at the tone.  
  
Akane blinked, then smiled. "Okay, sensei!" Grinning, she cocked back a fist aimed at his head.  
  
*Thump*  
  
Akane's fist hit Ranma's palm, all of the inhuman force of the blow ignored completely. Then he tossed her over his head to the other side of the room.  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" *Crash!*  
  
Several students got out of the way as Akane sailed toward their desks. Several more didn't.  
  
  
  
Yuka frowned as she witnessed the tangle of bodies that resulted from Akane's unexpected flight. Then she calmly walked up to Ranma's prone form, and shook his shoulders lightly.  
  
"Hey Ranma, wake up!"  
  
Ranma's eyes shot open and he sat up, looking from side to side groggily. "Huh? Wha? Where're the golems? I'll smash 'em........." Ranma shook his head to clear it, then realized he was still in class.  
  
Then he noticed the heated glare the teacher was giving him.  
  
"Saotome. Buckets. Hall. NOW."  
  
Ranma was confused as to what he did wrong, but left the class anyway, ignoring the snickers from the male half of the class, particularly Mendo.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Ranma hummed a little to himself as he held his arms straight out at his sides, buckets of water hanging still.  
  
Ranma had never liked school. As far as he was concerned, learning could stop after geography, basic math, and language classes for japanese and a little bit of English. That's all that Kaze had taught him, anyway.  
  
He had learned a little history too, but mostly about stuff from legends and about mystical places of Gods and demons. Nothing like the modern history classes, which taught about fuedal Japan and useless junk like that. Kaze made it interesting. And when he couldn't do that, he made sure that his students knew why they were listening to him anyway.  
  
  
  
Ranma started juggling the buckets in the air, tossing and catching them without spilling a drop of water.  
  
"Lessee. Ancient gate to demonic world is sealed 5000 years ago... opened again 6 years ago. What was that other place called? Oh yeah, Chryslon! Hmph. I wish the teacher's classes were half that interesting."  
  
He continued juggling the buckets, calling up facts from legends that Kaze had told him in his head.  
  
Then the bell rang. Students quickly started filing out of the room. One of them stopped to watch Ranma juggle the buckets, and the crowd fell against him, everbody toppling like dominos.  
  
Ranma realized that the class was over, and caught both buckets, then walked to his next class, tossing them under a water fountain as he left.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
The rest of the classes were uneventful, Ranma being able to stay awake by simply reading the books and ignoring the teachers.  
  
Then lunch came. Ranma took out the bento Kasumi had packed and sat under a tree on the edge of the school yard. He started eating it, enjoying the solitude of the area.  
  
Then he realized he was surrounded.  
  
One girl walked up to him nervously with a pleading expression on her face. "Ranma, as much as this challenge means to you, you have to call it off!"  
  
He blinked, bits of rice falling from the chopsticks he was in the process of putting into his mouth. "Huh?"  
  
Another girl came up from his right. "Kuno will tear you apart!"  
  
Another one from his left. "Run away! Far away! He'll leave you alone if you back down!"  
  
Ranma looked back and forth warily, unsure of how to respond. Then a familiar voice shattered the confusion.  
  
"SO!!! The cowardly Saotome seeks to hide from his righteous punishment?!"  
  
The crowd parted like the Red Sea as Kuno shoved his bokken forward, pointing at Ranma.  
  
"No doubt you are having second thoughts as to facing one such as I. Know that if you back down now, you may be forgiven for your earlier insult. You are, after all, ignorant in the ways of this campus, and-"  
  
Ranma rolled his eyes as Kuno continued to drone on about how good he was. "Actually Kuno, I just wanted to eat first." With that, Ranma's chopsticks blurred, and the rest of his bento disappeared into his mouth. He swallowed, then stood up.  
  
"Wow! What speed! What precision!"  
  
"He was just eating, you dimwit!"  
  
Kuno frowned as his opponent calmly dusted himself off, then stepped out from the crowd. So the peasant thought to actually face him? Well, then Saotome would be smited so that he may know his place in this realm!  
  
  
  
On the sidelines of the field that was to be the battleground, Nabiki counted up the money that was being gathered from bets. She smiled as she noticed quite a few people had bet for Saotome to win the match, mostly being girls and guys who really wanted to see the kendoist get his.  
  
She had no doubt that Ranma was good, but Kuno's skill in kendo was on a level just bordering unbelievable. Contrary to what most would believe, she did feel a twinge of guilt in making big yen off of Ranma being pounded, but hey, that's life.  
  
A gloved hand tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around, then almost fell over backwards when she saw Rayden leaning over her, grinning.  
  
Composing herself quickly, she smirked slightly. "So, finally got up, huh? Did you want something Shikodan?"  
  
He backed off slightly, standing up straight. "Uh huh. You taking bets?"  
  
She nodded, her smile turning predatory.  
  
He reached into his trenchcoat and pulled out a small wad of bills. "10,000 yen. All on Saotome."  
  
Nabiki raised an eyebrow, then took the money. "This is a lot. You know something we don't?"  
  
Rayden turned to look where Ranma and Kuno had taken positions at opposite ends of the field. "It's all I have, actually. It's just that I can never resist betting on a sure thing."  
  
  
  
Kuno glared arrogantly at his opponent.  
  
"Know this, peasant, that today you were defeated by Tatewaki Kuno, the undefeated rising star of the kendo world and the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!" Kuno raised his bokken into the air, and a lightning bolt flashed in the distance.  
  
  
  
A few miles away, Ran started panicking as a lighting bolt hit her spaceship and blasted most of the engine apart.  
  
  
  
Ranma raised an eyebrow. 'Hmph. I could do that. Still, this guy has to have some skill if he has unconscious control of his ki like that.'  
  
Ranma stepped up. "Well, since you seem to like talking more than fighting, I guess I should do some sort of intro, huh?"  
  
He stood up straight, then thrust one hand in his pocket while leaving the other one with the palm upraised.  
  
"I am Ranma Saotome." A blue sphere appeared in his hand. "Age 16." He closed his fist on the sphere, shattering it, and spraying blue pinnacles of light around his arm, which emitted a soft blue glow. "Heir to the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu."  
  
He pointed at Kuno. "And this fight is just starting, pal!" A lightning bolt shot down from behind Ranma this time, leaving the silhouette of a serptentine dragon as it faded.  
  
  
  
Just outside of Tokyo bay, a lightning bolt struck a ferry that happened to be transporting a few Amazons, igniting many fires and forcing the crew and passengers overboard.  
  
  
  
The crowd started clapping quietly at Ranma's display, getting louder and louder until it erupted into full-blown cheering.  
  
Ranma pulled his other hand out of his pocket, and got into a loose stance.  
  
Kuno was furious. This mere peasant had not only interrupted his earlier speeches, but had also showed him up in the manner of introductions?! To humiliate him such was unforgivable!  
  
The crowd started doing 'The Wave'.  
  
  
  
Kuno charged with a horizontal slash to the neck. "Fiend! Have at thee!!"  
  
Ranma backed off, letting the bokken swing by with at least four inches to spare. Ranma had learned from fighting Rayden that often the length of the blade was not the extent of its cutting edge, as often air pressure or slight ki manipulation could cut skin as well as steel, or in this case wood.  
  
Ranma dodged a thrust, then jumped over another slash, somersaulting over his opponent's head and landing behind him. Ranma ducked down, and as predicted Kuno swung around with a blow that would have impacted his chest, had he been up there.  
  
After the bokken passed, Ranma lurched upward with a powerful uppercut, sending Kuno sprawling onto the ground.  
  
His eyes narrowed slightly as Kuno got up and rubbed his jaw, glaring at him furiously. "You know Kuno, from the way everybody talks about you around here, I expected more. Don't tell me that this is the best you can do."  
  
The crowd gasped, and chattering started to break out. This guy was beating Kuno? And now he was taunting him?  
  
Kuno growled. "Very well knave! I will hold nothing back then! You have found your end today!" He lashed out with his full speed, executing three blinding strikes at his foe.  
  
Ranma dodged all of them, then clasped the bokken between his palms on the last attack, an overhead strike. Kuno was immediately unbalanced, and Ranma started pelting his body with kicks as he held his enemy's weapon firmly. Eventually he let go, and Kuno staggered backward, clutching his chest painfully.  
  
Ranma stared at him. "Forget it. You're no match for me. Give it up, will ya?"  
  
Kuno growled again, then shot forward, lashing out with his ultimate technique. His bokken thrusts sped up, and he started yelling 'strike' as he pushed his way into Ranma's defenses.  
  
Ranma raised an eyebrow as Kuno sought to spear him repeatedly. So he did have some skill.  
  
'But not enough to beat me!' Ranma's hand suddenly lashed out, and the entire crowd gasped as they realized that his hand had grabbed Kuno's weapon right in the middle of a thrust.  
  
  
  
On the sidelines, Akane was gaping. 'There's no way he could do that! I've seen Kuno cut trees with that stupid bokken! His hand should be gone from trying to stop that attack!'  
  
  
  
Ranma glared at Kuno. "All right man, I've been lenient, but it's time for this to stop. Do you concede, or am I gonna have to finish this?"  
  
Kuno muttered curses under his breath as he tried to free his weapon from Ranma's iron grip. "Fool! Relinquish my weapon so that I may smite you!"  
  
Ranma sweatdropped and stared mutely as Kuno kept struggling with his bokken.  
  
Then his fist closed tightly, and the part he was holding shattered into splinters.  
  
While Kuno stood shock still for a moment, Ranma hopped backward, then launched himself forward at full speed, with one arm outstretched. Most of the crowd thought he was going to clothesline Kuno, but instead he grabbed the kendoist's shirt as he passed by, dragging him along at his own speed.  
  
*SLAM!!!*  
  
And right into a tree. Ranma spun around, passing by the tree himself with only inches to spare.  
  
Kuno had taken the impact fully, and his back was imbedded slightly in the tree, with a row of splintered bark outlining his form.  
  
  
  
Ranma dusted off his hands, then casually walked away from the scene as the entire crowd started yelling; some were cheering, others were praising the victor, and some others were cursing their losses.  
  
Nabiki was still in shock over the outcome of the battle. She had known that there was a chance Saotome would get lucky or actually manage to hold his own, but the way he downed Kuno like he was nothing wasn't what she had in mind.  
  
Once again, she felt a tapping on her shoulder. She turned around to see Rayden holding his palm out expectantly. Sighing, she started counting out yen as others lined up to collect their winnings.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
"So correct me if I've misinterpreted this. Ever since he was born, Ranma was in fact engaged to one of your daughters, Mr. Tendo?"  
  
Genma was surprised at how calmly Nodoka was taking this. From what he remembered, she had always had patience and an iron will, but with the way she always carried around that katana and such, he hadn't been quite sure what to expect.  
  
Were he able to read emotions at a glance, as Kaze was doing, Genma would see that Nodoka was in fact furious at not being informed about an engagement formed without her consent. As she had every right to be.  
  
"Yes, well, your son has yet to choose his fiancee, but as soon as he does, the ceremony can begin!" Soun, who could read people about as well as he could read Chinese, had assumed that since Nodoka hadn't vehemently refused the engagement, the wedding was on.  
  
Nodoka frowned. "What is your opinion on this matter, Genma?"  
  
Genma winced, suddenly aware that he was the center of attention. "Well, it's a matter of family honor......"  
  
Nodoka lowered her head. "A matter that was decided without me or my son's consent. Tell me, what does Ranma think of this?"  
  
Genma was about to speak for his son when Kaze's unwavering tone interrupted him.  
  
"Master Saotome is willing to do his duty for the sake of family honor, though I must say that he's essentially opposed to the idea. He is aware that he's not ready to settle down, and he has little to no personal interest in uniting the families or inheriting the dojo."  
  
Genma glared at him. Soun frowned. "Now why should he be opposed?"  
  
Kaze turned toward him. "For exactly the reasons I just stated. It is my personal opinion that one should never rush these sort of things. As I recall, you were quite adamant in supporting that in the Amazon village."  
  
Nodoka blinked. "Oh, yes. I'd forgotten about that. Ranma and his friends told me about your trip to the Amazon village."  
  
Soun blinked and glanced over at his friend. He had just realized that Genma had been unusually quiet about all that happened on his training trip with Ranma, as usually Saotome was more than happy to boast of his accomplishments in the name of the art.  
  
Genma started sweating and scratched the back of his head. "Heh heh. They did, did they? Uh, did they mention that we managed to destroy a ferocious hell-beast?"  
  
"That's nice dear." Nodoka's expression didn't waver, to Genma's growing horror. "However, I'm more interested in the part where you made Ranma fight that Amazon girl and when he won, he became engaged to her."  
  
Soun spit out a good bit of the tea he was drinking, then turned to Genma angrily. "What's this about another engagement?! You didn't tell me about this Saotome!"  
  
Kasumi carefully poured more tea into her father's cup, listening all the while. "How did he get engaged?"  
  
Nodoka shot a glance at Kasumi. Up until now, the girl had been rather quiet. Why did she seemed interested in this other engagement? Smiiling slightly, she answered. "Well, from what Ranma told me, their laws say that any male outsider that defeats an Amazon woman is married to her."  
  
"Pending a little ritual called the 'Kiss of Marriage'." Kaze added.  
  
Nodoka nodded. "Yes. Apparently Ranma defeated one of these Amazons in a tournament for a table of food. Though it seems that wasn't all he won."  
  
She sighed. "Although I hardly consider this engagement to have the same validity of your claim, Tendo, it is something to consider. I do not wish my son to be tied down like this so early in life."  
  
Soun was on the verge of doing............ something. Truthfully, he couldn't decide if crying or demanding that she agree would have a better effect on the current situation. "B-but... the engagement...... we have to unite the families........."  
  
Nodoka shook her head. "I'm very sorry, Tendo, but I'm afraid this will not work out. Besides, my son already has a girlfriend."  
  
Everybody stopped what they were doing and registered this thought into their minds.  
  
Genma gaped. "What?!"  
  
Nodoka shrugged slightly. "Well, she's more of a prospect than his girlfriend. But in any case, I think it's important that someone as manly as my son be allowed to 'play the field' as they say. I'm afraid an engagement at this point is out of the question."  
  
Genma started to get angry. "Nodoka, you listen here-!"  
  
Her eyes narrowed and she shifted the long, thin bundle on her shoulder slightly.  
  
He gulped and immediately lowered his voice. "Now dear, it's a matter of honor that Ranma marry a Tendo, and-"  
  
"Honey, there's been something I've been meaning to ask you. Why is there a panda floating above your head?" She already knew the answer, as Ranma had explained the whole incident, and Kaze the cure.  
  
Genma shut up very quickly.  
  
Soun started twitching slightly, then fell down onto the ground and started crying loudly.  
  
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! Now the schools will never be joined!!"  
  
Nodoka blinked at the display. Kasumi shook her head. "Poor father. He hasn't been the same since mother left us."  
  
Nodoka nodded sagely. "Yes. Kimiko was such a good friend. How are you holding up dear?"  
  
Kasumi smiled. "Oh, I'm all right. I have housework to keep me busy." She started to pick up the dishes on the small table.  
  
"Let me help you with that. So how are your sisters? I haven't seen any of you since you were children!" She started chatting idle as she led Kasumi to the kitchen, leaving the men behind.  
  
Genma immediately turned to Soun who was still bawling. "Now Tendo, I've got a plan. You see, as soon as Ranma gets home today, we'll-" His plan was unexpectantly cut short as he yawned deeply, then closed his eyes and fell face first onto the table, sleeping soundly. Kaze removed his hand from the older man's back.  
  
Soun hadn't stopped crying yet, as Genma had stopped relaying his 'foolproof' plan to unite the families. The barrage of tears seemed to gradually slow, and then Soun too collapsed into a comatose heap.  
  
Kaze nodded, satisfied. "The rest will do them both good."  
  
With that, he took out a book and started reading, ignoring the clatter of dishes and idle chit-chat coming from the kitchen.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Rayden was busy grinning to himself as he counted his winnings from Ranma's fight.  
  
"Ah, easy money. Maybe that'll teach Tendo not to bet against a Saotome. Heh heh." Chuckling to himself, he looked around for some place to eat.  
  
*Whish* He blinked as his ears picked up the slight sound of metal cutting air.  
  
*Thack* *Thack* *Thack* *Thack* *Thack*  
  
"Ow!"  
  
Rayden growled and muttered under his breath as he reached behind him and pulled several small objects out of his back. They were small, thin circles of metal, with buzzsaw-like hook blades surrounding the edges. Each of the objects had a tiny spot of blood on them where they had managed to break skin.  
  
"Ninja stars? What? Where'd these come from?" He asked no one in particular.  
  
"Hmph. If those shuriken had been poisoned, as they usually are, you would be on your knees and dying right now." No one in particular answered.  
  
Rayden turned around to see a man staring down at him from atop a lamp post. He was smaller than he was, Ranma's size actually, and wore a light brown tunic with a slightly darker cloak on top of it, along with animal- skin boots. He had black hair tied into a long ponytail that reached down to his waist, and had an eyepatch over one eye.  
  
"And you would be............ the pirate ninja? C'mon, help me out here." Rayden went over all the odd-looking people he had ever met, but couldn't recognize the figure before him.  
  
The man smirked. "You don't remember me, do you? I'm not really surprised. Although from the way you let those shuriken hit you, I may have the wrong person. You are Rayden Shikodan, are you not?"  
  
Rayden crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. "Who wants to know?"  
  
The man smiled himself, although it really seemed more friendly than malevolent. "My name is Cyrax Ayakana of the Hitokage Ninja clan. I have been searching for you for a long time, Shikodan of the White Star."  
  
Rayden idly scratched his back where the shuriken had hit. "Uh, okay...... why?"  
  
Cyrax chuckled. "So that I may challenge you, of course. A challenge on your terms. An honorable fight, in the syle of this... 'Anything-Goes' that you now practice. Tommorrow at noon."  
  
Rayden frowned, then reached into his pocket and took out a small, leather- bound notebook and started thumbing through it.  
  
"Nope. 'Fraid not. Got plans. How's Saturday at 2 PM?"  
  
Cyrax blinked, slightly disoriented by having to set up an appointment. "Uh... that would be all right, I suppose. At the abandoned construction site near the school."  
  
Rayden nodded. "Good. See ya later, Ayakana." Giving a brief wave, and casually tossing away the shuriken, he walked away to once again search for some cheap food.  
  
Cyrax remained where he stood, scratching his head in thought. Somehow he thought that the infamous chaos knight would put up more of a fuss than that. Shrugging it off, he left to make preparations.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Nodoka smiled as she walked back into the living room, with Kasumi right next to her. Kasumi was such a nice young woman. After chatting for a few minutes while doing the dishes, she had seriously considered opening up the matter of the engagement on the grounds that Kasumi would be Ranma's wife. She reconsidered however. It wouldn't be fair to Kasumi, who might want to begin a quiet, passionate love affair with her son behind everybody's back. Nodoka smirked slightly at the thought. Her son was so manly!  
  
She was understandably confused when she entered the living room and found her husband and Soun sleeping soundly with their heads lying on the table.  
  
"Did something happen?"  
  
Kaze looked up from where he was studying some sort of scroll. "Oh, nothing really. I believe master Saotome will be along later. He's just enrolled in Furinkan High School today. Ah, I believe he's here now."  
  
Nodoka blinked, and was about to question how he knew that, when there was a knock at the front door.  
  
"Hey Mom?! It's me and Ataru!!"  
  
Throwing a questioning glance at the white priest, who had returned to his scroll, Nodoka answered the door and greeted her visitors.  
  
  
  
She blinked as she noticed that Ataru was thoroughly scorched. "Lum or Ten?"  
  
Ataru sighed. "Both. After I helped drag Kuno to Sakura's office, I just tripped, and-"  
  
Ranma snorted. "Tripped. Right. You fell right on top of the nurse and then tried to 'regain your balance' by grabbing onto her breasts."  
  
Halfway through the sentence Ataru had elbowed Ranma in the side to try and get him to shut up. By the time Ranma finished, he was rubbing his elbow in pain.  
  
Ataru grumbled something under his breath, then continued. "After Sakura beat me off, she knocked me out of the room and into Lum and the brat. Things went downhill from there."  
  
Ranma rolled his eyes. "After that we just took off. That's why we're here early."  
  
Nodoka smiled, then patted Ataru on the head as she helped him in. "You really should learn to be more discreet when doing things like that. You'll find that a little patience can really help when trying to seduce a woman."  
  
Ranma and Kaze stared at her. Was she actually giving the man advice?  
  
Kasumi stood up from where she was sitting to greet the new guests. "Hello Ranma. Welcome home."  
  
Ataru's gaze went up and down her body, and he chuckled slightly. "Well, maybe it's time to practice my technique... URK! Owowowowow!!"  
  
Ranma had grabbed him firmly around the back of the neck, and had forced him down to his knees in pain.  
  
Growling slightly, Ranma released him and flexed his hand. "Sorry about that. Don't know what came over me."  
  
Kasumi blinked, then left for the kitchen. "I should make more tea."  
  
Ataru looked at Ranma questioningly, and Ranma glared at him. "Look. Don't you EVER grope or harrass Kasumi, all right?"  
  
Ataru blinked, then nodded, the pain in his neck already fading. "Okay, okay, I get it. So she's your woman, huh?"  
  
Ranma blinked himself, then shook his head. "No! No! That's not it! She's just... well, just don't go messing around with her, all right?"  
  
Nodoka laid a hand on Ataru's shoulder and nodded herself. "I know that she's a very healthy young woman, but I'm afraid that in this case I'm afraid you must hold back. My son has first dibs."  
  
*Thud*  
  
Ranma unsteadily got up from his facefault. "Mom! Not you too!"  
  
Nodoka smiled. "Now, now, Ranma. It's nothing to be ashamed about. Kasumi is a very beautiful woman. She's a virgin too. You'd best get to work on her."  
  
Ranma was too shocked to move or think coherently, so he more or less stumbled backwards slightly, and fell over his father's sleeping form.  
  
Ataru whistled. "You've got it made man! Go for it!" Grinning, he gave Ranma a thumbs-up before exiting the house.  
  
Ranma decided that the current subject was too much for his brain to handle and steered it toward something else. "Why is Pops sleeping?"  
  
Kaze was still trying not to laugh out loud at Ranma's reaction to his mother's words, but still managed to reply. "Psychic suggestion."  
  
Nodoka didn't know what to make of this, so she ignored it. "Seriously though, Ranma, I want you to ask that other girl for a date. That one in the arcade."  
  
Ranma blinked, then nodded. "You mean Yuka? Okay, sure............ uh, one thing though."  
  
Nodoka smiled softly. He was going to ask her for advice! "Yes?"  
  
"What exactly is a date? I've heard of it, but I don't really know what it is." Ranma scratched the back of his head.  
  
*Thud*  
  
Ranma leaned over the table to check up on his mother. Why had she fallen over like that?  
  
Kaze sighed, and idly wondered if he should have bothered giving Ranma 'The Talk' over the years they grew up together. Quickly deciding that that would have been far more trouble than it was worth, he patiently waited for Kasumi to return with the tea.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
"This is the right area. Right over here, in this cave." The woman pointed to the rock which was bound by a Shinto ward.  
  
She was completely stunning, with long purple hair that reached all the way down to her thighs, and a very mature and curvaceous body that exuded sexuality, especially in the way she wearing a cocktail dress that seemed two sizes too small for her body..  
  
Behind her were three men. The first one was the size of a normal man, with short brown hair and hard, chiseled features, almost to the point of making him look inhuman.  
  
"So this is the place. We should do well if you're correct." The man spoke hoarsely, as if he was trying to speak words he wasn't meant to.  
  
The woman smiled and leaned back into him. "Have I ever been wrong, love? The evil power is here, I can feel it."  
  
"Yumon graas!" The pair turned at the noise, and the woman glared at the source of the interruption, while the man detached her body from his.  
  
Behind them stood two men that seemed inhumanly large, especially by Japanese standards. One was fat and pudgy, while the other one was at least 8 feet tall and covered with layers of bulging muscle.  
  
"Donkon wa talhee oina!" The woman sighed at the muscular one's complaint.  
  
"Marcay non gonbes Bit, iwo chuta talhee!" She turned back to the cave. "Blasted idiot uniped. Can't even walk with two legs, much less speak the human's language." She muttered.  
  
The fat man stood forward, and seemed to peer into the plugged-up cave, his face expressionless.  
  
"I detect only a faint life sign. Nail, are you certain that this... creature is of sufficient power to be of any use to us?"  
  
Nail snarled at him. "Must you hideous cretins always question my premonitions? To be honest, I don't know what we'll find, but it will be powerful and it will be evil! Is that acceptable?!"  
  
The man looked at his companions uneasily. "Bit, Rotor, Nail. Calm yourselves. We'll know what we've found in a few moments."  
  
Nail snorted, then turned back to the cave. "Thank you Bolt. Now just a little dark magic here..." She waved her hand at the charm wrapped around the boulder, and it glowed softly before catching fire and falling off the rock.  
  
Bit walked up to the entrance, then grasped the huge stone with one hand, digging holds into the rock with his fingers and then tossing it away as if made of styrofoam.  
  
Nail nodded, then kneeled before the cave entrance, beckoning with her hands like one would to a puppy. "Come on now. I know you're in there. Reveal yourself!"  
  
She smiled darkly as a pair of brightly glowing eyes flashed in the darkness of the cave.  
  
"Yes... it has awoken. Come here now. We want to help you."  
  
The creature took a step forward. And then another. And another.  
  
Then it took a final step outside, finally illuminating its form, before it suddenly fell on its face.  
  
Rotor looked down at the bald, two-foot tall, wrinkled old man on the ground before them, wearing a tattered old brown gi. He looked at Nail. "Am I to assume that this is the creature?" Rotor would have said something witty and scathing, except that he lacked any semblance of a sense of humor.  
  
Nail gulped and chuckled nervously. "Uh... no! No, this isn't it at all! It must be deeper down into the cave!"  
  
Bolt briefly stepped into the cave, then came out again. "No. The cave goes on for about 4 meters."  
  
"I don't detect anything else in the immediate area besides this old man and ourselves. It would appear we have wasted our time here." Rotor said mechanically.  
  
Bit groaned and started whining in his native, demonic language.  
  
Nail's left eye started twitching. "Shut up! All of you! This must be a disguise of some sort! Or a weakened physical state! You! Wake up!" She kicked the old man repeatedly.  
  
He blinked slightly, then groggily stood up. "Huh? What? Where am I? Genma? Soun?"  
  
He shook his head, then looked up to where the last voice had spoken.  
  
His eyes widened, and suddenly took on a warm, watery quality. Nail blinked.  
  
Happousai was in heaven. After nearly 20 years of imprisonment in that cave with not even a bra to tide him over, his perversion had been drastically weakened as he was forced to go cold turkey, even in the hibernating state he had to put himself in to survive the whole time.  
  
Being suddenly freed, and then finding out that his savior was a very busty young woman was akin to any other man finding the Fountain of Youth a day before he died of old age.  
  
Nail glared down at him. "Who are you? What are you? Answer me, damn you!"  
  
He had no idea why she seemed to be angry at him, but that was okay. He smiled. "Name's Happousai, pretty lady! And I'm your dream come true!"  
  
*Glomp*  
  
Nail blinked, as did all the others in the vicinity as she beheld that the old man had attached himself to her chest.  
  
Nail stood still for a moment. Then her mouth started trembling as the old man proceeded to rub his face back and forth between her breasts.  
  
Happousai suddenly felt rather cold, which was odd, because he was currently experiencing a type of high that had yet to be obtained with the help of the purest crack ever made. After so long, the energy suddenly flowing through his body! Oh, how wonderful it was!  
  
What he didn't realize was that the current drop in temperature was due to the icy blue aura that Nail was currently putting out.  
  
"You insolent worm! You'll die for this!" She shook her fist at her side, her shock at being groped so blatantly muddling her thoughts to the point that she couldn't think straight enough to just punch him off.  
  
Bolt shook his head, and pulled out a jeweled scimitar from underneath his cloak. "I'm afraid that your premonition was wrong this time, Nail. Let us put this creature out of his misery and take care of those other men."  
  
Nail remained perfectly still, and remained so even as Bolt slashed upward with his scimitar, his blade not even tearing the dress as he cut in front of her chest.  
  
What was curious is that there was a distinct lack of human blood following the attack, or a corpse of any type.  
  
Nail stepped back in shock as she noticed the tiny old man land on Bolt's head.  
  
"Now what's the big idea attacking me?! Do you know how many years it's been since I've seen a rack like that? Or any racks at all?"  
  
Bolt raised an eyebrow. "Should I care?" He ducked down slightly and sped forward, then turned around with a diagonal slash.  
  
It should have hit, but somehow the aged martial artist managed to move aside in mid-air. "Well! Talk about rude! I'll have to teach you some manners!" Happousai shot forward, then pulled a corncob pipe out of his gi and jabbed Bolt with it. His eyes widening in surprise, the disguised demon was sent flying back into the outside wall of the cave.  
  
Nail gaped. "How...?"  
  
She was about to attack herself, when Rotor stepped in front of her. "I see. You have done well Nail. This is indeed just the entity we were looking for."  
  
Happousai blinked. "I am?"  
  
Nail blinked. "He is?"  
  
Rotor nodded. "Tell me... Happousai... how would you like to help us, in return for freeing you? Um, excuse me......"  
  
Nail started trembling again as Happousai fondled her. "GET. HIM. OFF!!!!"  
  
She stopped trembling, and suddenly her breathing returned to normal as she started to calm down (unfortunately for Happousai, who was enjoying the effect her heavier breathing rate was having on her bosom). Happousai started to feel cold again as her icy blue aura reappeared.  
  
*Shing* A sheet of ice suddenly shot up and covered her completely.  
  
Happousai bounced onto the ground, then blinked at where the woman was now encased in ice. Usually he was more than confident enough in his abilities that he would just keep hanging on to a woman's chest even as they retaliated, but something about these people were putting him on edge, giving his danger sense slightly more control over his libido.  
  
The ice shattered, and Nail frowned darkly as she realized that she hadn't been able to catch the little pervert.  
  
Bolt came up behind her, his face expressionless.  
  
Happousai, having been able to fully recharge on the last grope, turned to Rotor. "So, you mentioned something about helping you out? What's in it for me?"  
  
Rotor smiled amiably. "Gold. Power. Whatever you wish. Our mission is of the utmost importance to our superiors, and we have many resources at our disposal."  
  
Happousai grinned, then pointed at Nail. "Can I have her?"  
  
Nail growled, and a blue sphere formed in her hand. She was about to launch it too, before Bolt held her shoulder firmly.  
  
"I'm afraid she's not currently available. Uh, would you consider any other form of payment?"  
  
Happousai frowned, then sat down and took a drag from his pipe. "Well, ordinarily no, but you did set me loose, so I suppose I owe you for that. So I'll accept panties instead!"  
  
The surrounding demons blink-blinked. Except for Bit, who didn't understand Japanese and was busy chewing on a tree to find out what they tasted like.  
  
"Panties... as in women's underwear?" Bolt was totally in the dark about this one. He had fair knowledge of human culture (he did know what panties were), but he couldn't think of any use that an old human male would have for panties.  
  
'Perhaps there's some country that uses them as currency or something.'  
  
"Oh! And bras! Can't forget the bras!" Happousai shouted happily, already dreaming about the new 'collection' he would start on.  
  
Nail's twitch returned, although it lacked much of her earlier fury. "Panties? Bras? What is with this guy?"  
  
Rotor shrugged. "Very well. We'll.......... 'pick up' some... unmentionables on the way to our destination. I'll describe our task on the way."  
  
"All right!" Happousai bounded up and down in joy, before deciding that it was time for another cheap feel.  
  
*Glomp*  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!"  
  
  
  
*************************************************************************** *******  
  
  
  
End Chapter 4 


	5. Duels, Dates, and Demons!

Nexus  
  
Chapter 5  
  
a Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura crossover  
  
by Black Dragon  
  
revcoll@peoplepc.com  
  
http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/fanficlair/index.html  
  
I do not own Ranma 1/2. I do not own Urusei Yatsura. Both of these series were produced by the most wonderful and all-powerful Rumiko Takahashi. That said, I still have time for a short rant.  
  
Akane Tendo, for your selfishness and crimes against all who live, particularly Ranma, I hope Belldandy or some other Kami comes down and smites you!  
  
  
  
As for continuity, obviously this takes the Ranma 1/2 story from the beginning, but as far as UY goes, it's a little bit after Mendo shows up.  
  
  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Duels, Dates, and Demons!  
  
*************************************************************************** *******  
  
  
  
"So let me get this straight," Nabiki began, sparing a glance at the quietly sobbing Soun, "you," she pointed at Ranma, "are supposed to ask Yuka out for lunch tommorrow."  
  
Ranma nodded and drank the last of his miso soup. "Yup. I really don't know why. Mom insisted, though."  
  
Everybody else in the room sweatdropped, though Kasumi's cheerful expression made her's seem out of place.  
  
Nabiki pointed to Rayden next, who was stifling a yawn as he fought with Genma for breakfast. "You have a fight with some ninja guy you claim you've never even met on the same day."  
  
Rayden nodded, then blinked as he realized that the distraction had cost him a sausage.  
  
She then pointed to Kaze. "You're going to spend today meditating to seek enlightenment, and tommorrow you're going to all the temples and shrines in the area to pray and make offerings."  
  
Kaze nodded. "Yes. There are many restless spirits about. It would do a great deal of good to offer prayer."  
  
Nabiki stared at him. "Do you see dead people?"  
  
Kaze was caught off guard by the question, and didn't really know how to answer.  
  
Luckily, that was about when Soun decided he couldn't take it anymore. "How could you, son? How could you forsake family honor just to date some girl you barely know?!"  
  
Rayden growled at Genma. "All right, panda-man, time for my ultimate martial arts dining technique! Razor Chopstick Assault!" Unsheathing his sword slightly, he quickly ran his chopsticks over it, instantly giving them a sharp edge.  
  
Ranma felt rather annoyed that he was being blamed for all of it. "Hey, it wasn't my idea, all right? So lay off! Mom said I should, and she's the one who ended the engagement! Not me!"  
  
Genma gasped as his chopsticks were sliced apart, and Rayden started raiding Genma's portions of breakfast.  
  
Soun fell to the table sobbing, though he didn't deny what Ranma said.  
  
Akane glared at him. "You just keep your hands off Yuka, pervert!"  
  
Ranma's eyes narrowed. "Stop calling me that! And what I do is none of your business!"  
  
Akane's eyes narrowed right back. "I'll call you what I want, pervert! And Yuka happens to be a good friend of mine, so you do anything perverted to her, and I'll hurt you so badly you'll beg me to finish you off!"  
  
Genma grabbed Rayden around the neck and tried to force him away from the table. His effort got him uppercutted out of the room.  
  
Ranma's left eye twitched slightly. Then he smirked. "Uh huh, sure. You, hurt me? I fight monsters on a regular basis. What's a little girl like you going to do to me?"  
  
It remains unknown to this day why he didn't see the giant mallet coming.  
  
*SMASH*  
  
"How about THAT?!"  
  
Rayden stood up slightly. "Hey, who do you think you are?"  
  
Akane turned towards him, resting the mallet on her shoulder. Her body appeared black from the sheer brightness of the halo of red that surrounded her. "Did you say something, Shikodan?"  
  
Rayden gulped. "Heh heh... me? No. Didn't say a word."  
  
Kaze stood up suddenly, and stared hard at Akane. "Mistress Tendo, I suggest you desist immediately. I will not tolerate this."  
  
Akane glared at him. "Shut up! What do you know, anyway?!"  
  
Kasumi, much to her younger sister's frustration, agreed with Kaze. "Akane, Ranma and the others are our guests. I realize it wasn't a very nice thing for Ranma to say, but he didn't deserve that."  
  
Akane visibly wilted.  
  
Ranma stayed in his prone position, musing over the strike. It had hurt a lot more than it should have. No real damage, of course, but still, he would have put it past this girl to put that much power into her swing. He'd been attacked by demons that had been weaker.  
  
His eyes widened. Could it be? Well, she sure seemed tempermental enough to be a hell beast. Had to be sure, though.  
  
Kaze blinked in surprise as Ranma stood up and started rooting through his robes, causing paper wards covered with arcane symbols to fly up into the air and scattering about on the floor.  
  
Finally, Ranma found the one he was looking for and slapped it onto Akane's forehead.  
  
Akane blinked. The ward did nothing, save obscure her view.  
  
Ranma sat back down. "Huh. Guess she's not a demon. Just a strong, violent tomboy."  
  
*POW!* Ranma went sailing through the roof and into the air.  
  
Rayden sweatdropped. "You just proved his point, you know."  
  
*POW!* Rayden was seen a moment later, on the exact same trajectory.  
  
Kaze frowned. "Perhaps that one was defective. I'll have to make a fresh detector ward to make sure."  
  
*POW* To Akane's shock, her fist struck some sort of energy field just short of throttling the White Star priest.  
  
He hummed to himself as he took out a slip of paper and started drawing on it with an ink pen.  
  
Nabiki watched impassively as Akane got frustrated and started pounding on the invisible force field that Kaze had somehow erected. "That's my little sister." She said dryly. "Hey Toren, how do you do that, anyway?"  
  
Toren glanced up at her as he waited for the ward's ink to dry. "It takes years of spiritual conditioning and meditation, in addition to the coordination to link your soul to the energy flows that run through all living things. A perfect harmony with nature and-"  
  
"Magic. Gotcha." Nabiki interrupted, sipping her tea.  
  
He sighed forlornly, then looked up to Akane, who was panting from effort she had put out and rubbing her sore hands. Seeing the opening, he threw the ward at Akane's chest. It flattened as it cut through the air, then stuck onto her uniform the moment it touched. Nothing happened.  
  
He nodded. "No, it would seem Master Saotome was correct."  
  
Akane's aura shot up as she bared her teeth and growled dangerously. To her further frustration though, Kaze totally ignored her and resumed eating.  
  
Nabiki stretched. "Well, as interesting as this is, I've got to get to school. Coming, Akane?"  
  
Akane gave a final Glare of Death (tm) toward the priest, then followed Nabiki out the door.  
  
  
  
Soun sighed in total resignation, having turned his plate of sausages and buns into a soup with his tears.  
  
Standing up, he started to leave the room when Kaze suddenly shouted out a warning to stop. He blinked and turned toward him, when he stepped on one of the slips of paper scattered about on the floor. It quickly curled up around his foot and glowed blue.  
  
A thick sheet of ice shot up around his leg, causing him to lose balance and topple over onto the other wards laying about.  
  
Many of which quickly clung to him like a magnet to a hunk of iron and started glowing.  
  
  
  
Kasumi hummed a little song to herself while she cleaned up the dishes. She paused suddenly to note the pretty flashes of blue, yellow, orange, and red in the next room.  
  
*Shing* *Zak* *Thwoom* *KABOOM!!*  
  
Her smile disappeared momentarily as the dishes in the drying rack shook from a vibration somewhere else in the house.  
  
She looked at the rack for a moment, wondering if the dishes were in danger of falling off. When the ground ceased to shake any more, she shrugged and went back to cleaning.  
  
  
  
Kaze would have been rubbing his head if both his hands weren't currently busy healing Soun.  
  
The Tendo patriarch lay in a smoldering circle on the ground, his body charred and his hair sticking up at odd angles.  
  
The White Star priest let out a forlorn sigh as his hands continued pulsing with the soft white glow. 'So much for enlightenment. It will take me too much time to clean up this mess. Oh well, there's always Sunday.'  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Rayden slowly caught up with Ranma as he went sailing through the air, the back of his trench coat fluttering out behind him.  
  
They were both in sitting positions facing each other, and were still on their ascents.  
  
Ranma looked around. "Hey, it looks like we're gonna land near Furinkan!"  
  
"Dandy." Rayden commented sourly.  
  
  
  
They had almost reached the apex of their flight, when a certain bikini- clad alien happened upon them.  
  
  
  
"Hey, what are you two doing up here?" Lum looked at them curiously even as she struggled to keep up. They were moving pretty fast, though she had no idea how they could've gotten all the way up here. From the way they were positioned, it didn't exactly look like they were in control of their trip either.  
  
"Enjoying the view." Rayden's tone was laced with sarcasm.  
  
Ranma shrugged. "Eh, at least it's a free ride to school."  
  
Lum blinked as they started what was obviously the descent of their 'free ride', leaving her behind in the air.  
  
  
  
Ranma smirked to himself as the ground rushed up to meet him.  
  
Twisting in midair, Ranma narrowed himself out, cutting down on wind resistance and speeding his way onto the ground, where amazingly enough, he managed to land heavily on his feet, only kicking up a thick cloud of dust upon impact.  
  
The crowd of students that were already there was quite impressed with this latest display of martial arts prowess, and started clapping.  
  
Ranma smiled and was about to take a bow when Rayden made his own landing.  
  
*WHAM!!!*  
  
A much larger cloud of dust was kicked up as the swordsman smashed into Ranma like a heavy brown meteor.  
  
  
  
The crowd stopped clapping and sweatdropped collectively. Then they all shrugged and went upon their normal business.  
  
"That hurt, you know." Ranma muttered.  
  
"Yeah, I know." Rayden replied evenly.  
  
Shoving the swordsman off of him, Ranma got up and started to dust himself off.  
  
"Ranma, are you okay?" Ranma looked up and chuckled nervously as he found Yuka standing over him worriedly.  
  
"Heh, no problem! Fine, really!" he did in fact manage to completely ignore the slight throbbing in his left arm that still indicated where his friend had landed.  
  
Yuka took a moment to observe the other man. He looked a few years older than them, and from his size and features, was probably a foreigner. She ignored him.  
  
Ranma just stood there, unsure of what to do. Eventually he decided that an introduction was in order, if for no other reason than to break the silence.  
  
"Hey Yuka, this is a friend of mine, Rayden. Ray, this is Yuka." They gave each other a short bow.  
  
Rayden was smiling as he raised his head. "So this is Yuka, huh? Nice going, Ranma." He patted the younger boy on the back. "Heh. Good luck!" With that he walked off whistling.  
  
Yuka blinked as she watched him shove his hands in his pockets and leave. "What's he talking about?"  
  
Ranma bigsweated slightly as he shrugged. "Eh, he's always like that. Eventually you learn to just ignore him. So anyway, would ya like to go out to lunch tommorrow? My treat."  
  
At first he wasn't sure whether he had said something wrong or not. Yuka's eyes just got all big and shiny, and she bunched up her hands beneath her chin.  
  
"Oh wow! Do you mean it?!"  
  
A droplet made its way down Ranma's head. "Uh...... yes?"  
  
Yuka smiled brightly. "Of course I'll come! Meet me at the park at 2:00, okay? Bye!" She immediately left to a group of schoolgirls to discuss the invitation and generate gossip.  
  
Ranma stood behind, still wondering what he had just done. It was just lunch, right? Nothing to be all excited about. Shrugging, he went off to class.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
*Shiang!*  
  
"Damn it! Cut that out!"  
  
*Shatter* *Crunch*  
  
Happousai's ice prison broke into tiny shards as Nail's mallet strike sent his frozen body carreening into a tree. Breathing heavily from the stress, her mallet glowed and retracted itself into a small golden cylinder with a crystal set in it. She clutched the object fiercly in her fist, and watched with no small amount of cold rage as the dirtly little human got right back up and started crying crocodile tears to try and garner affection and/or sympathy.  
  
"*Sniff* But Nail, sweety, *Sniff*, why won't you let this old man indulge in the last true pleasure in his long life? *Sob* All I ask is that you let me rest my weary head upon your bosom!" With that he made another lunge, and an energy beam sprouted from Nail's golden cylinder, only to expand and dim into the physical shape of an iron hammer.  
  
*WHAM!* The little troll that somehow possessed a power greater than they was sent sailing up over the trees. They didn't worry about losing him though. He ALWAYS came back.  
  
The other disguised demons merely sweatdropped and ignored the whole scene. All of them had at one point tried to stop the old man's ridiculous games, and all had learned that the dirty gnome outclassed them by a fair margin, not that any one of them would admit to being inferior to a human... or whatever Happousai was.  
  
For some reason which they still couldn't figure out, he only seemed to let his guard down around Nail, who was as of yet the only person that had actually been able to hurt him. And yet he kept on grabbing her. Heck, it seemed his only perogitive was to grope her as much as possible. None of them could understand it. Two out of three of them were certain they didn't want to understand it.  
  
  
  
*Glomp* Bolt found Nail suddenly attached to him, tears slowly crawling down her flawless face.  
  
"Bolt, dear, can't we just kill him right now? I'm sure we can take care of those other humans without him!" Bolt sighed and lowered his head.  
  
"I'm sorry, but we can't. He certainly can't kill us permanently, but he could escape and warn our targets easily enough. Besides, I think he'll come in handy once we face our enemies. Until then, I'm afraid we'll have to deal with him."  
  
"Well that's easy for you to say!" Nail frowned deeply. She knew very well that many mens' minds were geared toward sex, and little else, but this... creature took it to a level that was beyond ludicrous. As she felt unwelcome hands suddenly rubbing her rear, she idly wondered if there was any other human as pathetically lecherous as this one.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
*ACHOOOOO!*  
  
Ataru suddenly sneezed violently, blowing the adult magazine he was reading behind his math book onto the floor in front of his desk. He absently sniffed and wiped his nose, then looked up to see that the entire class was looking from him to the magazine lying open on the floor.  
  
The math teacher sighed, and with a gesture born of nearly a year of practice, waved Ataru out into the hall.  
  
Looking about, he figured he might as well get the other one into the hall too. "SAOTOME!!!"  
  
Ranma's head shot up. "The answer is 12!"  
  
The entire class shifted their attention to him, then took a look at the board.  
  
The teacher blinked, then cleared his throat and pointed to the hallway. "Lucky guess. Go fill your buckets."  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Ranma hopped from tree to tree as he made his way through the park, searching for Yuka. It had never occured to him to look where the park opened up to the sidewalk, partly because he didn't know the area, and partly because he had little use for things like walkways himself.  
  
This made it rather hard for the two people trailing him to keep him in sight while at the same time staying out of detectable range. They managed, however.  
  
  
  
Ranma alighted onto a handrail next to a stairway, and casually slid down it while standing up straight. Hopping to the ground, he made it up to a small stone bridge above a stream when his danger sense flared.  
  
He hopped up, and his short assailant passed right under him. That same attacker was then sent into the stream with a well-placed kick to the back of the head.  
  
Ranma walked over the bridge with his hands in his pockets, then leaned over the edge to see the figure slowly crawl out of the water. He was short and remarkably ugly, with a bald head, wrinkled face, and large ears. He was wearing monk robes, and also carried a staff and wore a wide, conical hat that indicated that same profession.  
  
Ranma watched him sputter and cough for a bit, then sighed.  
  
"Okay, I'll bite. What do you want?"  
  
The monk looked up at him, then gave him a stern look and pointed down the paved path.  
  
"You mustn't go that way!" The little old man gave him a look that just dared him to argue.  
  
Ranma blinked. "Uh, why? What's over there?"  
  
The monk suddenly looked very somber. "The entrance to the park, and grave misfortune."  
  
He blinked again, then snapped his fingers. "Ah! That'd probably be where Yuka is! Thanks man, see ya!"  
  
Ranma started to walk down the path, when suddenly the little man stood before him, his arms wide to block the path. "No! You musten't go! Didn't you hear what I said? Grave misfortune awaits you!"  
  
Ranma rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I get that a lot." He hopped over the monk's head, then continued on his way. "I'll just have to deal with it. Besides, I'll have a lot more misfortune if I don't show up."  
  
Cherry continued watching the young man plod down the path carelessly, idly wondering what sort of horrible fate would befall the boy. Oh well. He'd warned the fool.  
  
Cherry had just turned away when he caught a flash of white from behind a nearby bush, though otherwise, he detected nothing.  
  
'Hmmm... a bad omen, no doubt. I'd better get out of here.' With that, the aged monk turned and fled.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Nabiki poked her head up above the bush to see where Yuka was waiting patiently. It was still early for Ranma to be showing up, but she wanted to make sure she got all the good shots. She held her camera at the ready, waiting for Ranma to stride down the walkway.  
  
Her whole photography schedule fairly evaporated when the person she was waiting for tapped her on the shoulder. Her left eyebrow twitched slightly as she found Ranma standing behind her.  
  
"Hey Nabiki, what're you doing hiding back here with a camera?"  
  
Nabiki rose an eyebrow and stood up. "Excuse me? Can't a girl enjoy a little nature photography once in a while?" Ranma blinked, and seemed torn between believing the excuse or just leaving with his suspiscions intact.  
  
In any case, Ranma shrugged and called a greeting to Yuka, who ran over upon noticing him. Nabiki put her camera away and started off. She wouldn't have been able to sell the pictures for that much, just to curious girls and probably Akane, who never had much money anyway. Besides, in a way, she didn't have any right to spy on them.  
  
Satisfied with the economical and ethical outcome of the trip, she walked out of sight of the couple.  
  
She was just thinking on how she should use the film she saved, when she noticed two figures crouching behind trees just out of earshot of Ranma's position.  
  
One of them had long, snow-white hair and was wearing long-sleeved white kimono with a blue star pattern on the front. Kaze.  
  
The other was shorter, had uncombed brown hair, and a grin that no woman could ever forget, at least without thousands of dollars' worth of therapy. Ataru.  
  
Nabiki stopped and blinked. Why were those two spying on Ranma? Well, Ataru she could understand, he was probably hoping for a make-out session (which, from what she'd seen of Ranma, wasn't terribly likely), but Kaze was the sort of guy that would be the first to preach to others about respecting each others' privacy and moral garbage like that. Interestingly enough, they seemed to be trailing Ranma quite effectively, despite all his training.  
  
Shrugging, she snapped a shot of their pursuit and decided to follow them. Who knows, maybe it would turn profitable.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Kaze watched with great interest as Ranma walked alongside Yuka around the lake in the center of the park. His purpose for being there was somewhat cautious in nature. He had detected a rather strong disturbance, and his natural intuition had warned him of impending disaster coming from this area. In all honesty, though, he was mostly just curious as to how Ranma would do on an actual romantic venture.  
  
Ataru was hoping for a make-out session. 'Nuff said. That he was with Kaze was pure coincidence.  
  
It was also a small stroke of good luck, because Kaze was the only one capable of projecting the special aura to bypass Ranma's hardwired super- senses. Kaze was currently emitting a field of pure calm, safety, and utter harmlessness. Had Ataru felt the need to comment on the subject, he would have noted that he felt exceptionally warm and at peace with nature. However, he currently had more important things on his mind.  
  
Ranma actually could sense their presence, but with them being so thoroughly harmless, his subconscious deemed it about as noticeable as a pigeon.  
  
With his mind occupied so heavily on observing Ranma's activities, as well as keeping up the 'please ignore me, you don't care about me' field, it's perfectly understandable that he never noticed the presence behind him, biding her time and occasionally snapping a picture when she got a good angle.  
  
Idly, he wondered how Rayden was doing with his endeavor.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Cyrax tapped his foot on the ground. Where was that man? It was 10 minutes past 2, and Shikodan was nowhere to be seen.  
  
He was currently located in a large, solid dirt patch off to the side of a building which had been abandoned right after the construction of the main support structure for absolutely no reason other than to provide an excellent battle site.  
  
The young ninja was decked out in his own special combat gear, with a black scarf covering his nose and below on his face, and a pair of dark blue gauntlets. He was wearing a baggy tunic that was tied tight to his body at the top of his boots and his shoulders and displayed dark shades of gray. A cloak so black it was almost painful to look at billowed out behind him like a cape, its hood forming a cloth collar around his neck.  
  
Upon further inspection, it can be seen that blade hilts of various sizes and lengths are poking out from beneath his cloak, far many than most would deem necessary.  
  
  
  
Cyrax sighed to himself and forced himself into a light meditation. He had to be patient. It was a skill, just like stealth. It would not do for him to fail in such a measly test of will.  
  
It sure was hot.  
  
Especially with all these black clothes on.  
  
Focus! Focus!  
  
Dang, he was hungry.  
  
Focus! Damn you, focus!  
  
He wondered if maybe Rayden had stood him up. It would be rather fitting, considering that he had attacked the swordsman out of the blue, and then demanded a fight from him.  
  
Maybe he should just up and-wait, what was that?  
  
  
  
*Rummmmmmmble...............*  
  
Cyrax quieted all thought, stretching his sense to their very limits to hear what was going on.  
  
All he could hear was a slight whistle............  
  
*CRASH!* A gigantic I-beam fell straight into the ground just two meters in front of him.  
  
He blinked.  
  
Rayden, who was currently crouched on top of the girder, stood up to his full height and smiled.  
  
He blinked again.  
  
Rayden hopped down and waved a hand in front of his face. "Hello? Ninja guy? You there?"  
  
Cyrax blinked a final time, then shook his head. "Uh, yes, right, sorry......... What are you doing?"  
  
Rayden shrugged, putting his hands in his coat pockets. "Just thought I'd make an entrance."  
  
Cyrax nodded. "Ah, yes. And indeed you did."  
  
Rayden nodded himself. "Yup."  
  
"Well then..."  
  
"Right."  
  
"........................................................................"  
  
"........................................................................"  
  
Cyrax looked around uncomfortably, then start scratching his forehead.  
  
"Now, I'm certain there's a reason you're here......"  
  
Rayden coughed. "Well, you know, the challenge?"  
  
The ninja laughed and clapped his hands together. "Ah, yes! Thank you! I tend to lose my train of thought when people appear in front of me on top of 2-ton steel girders, you see, and-"  
  
"You're ranting." Rayden decided he was getting bored. He was here to fight, not exchange pleasantries.  
  
Cyrax coughed into his hand. "Sorry. Anyway, I suppose you're curious as to why I challenged you."  
  
Rayden shrugged. "Eh, not really. Though if you want, you can tell me anyway."  
  
Cyrax nodded. "You see, it all began 5 years ago............"  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
The lithely muscled figure glared down at Genma as the bald, bespectacled man bowed down repeatedly. He certainly appeared imposing, dressed in a tight black ninja suit that hid all but his heated eyes.  
  
"Please! I'm sorry! I wasn't really going to steal that gold! I was just... ah... looking at it! Yes!" Genma gulped. That one had sounded stupid even to him.  
  
The ninjas that currently held Rayden and Ranma, as well as the ones cautiously circling Kaze with their weapons drawn, all sweatdropped as they witnessed the man's begging. On the ground there lay many more ninjas, but being out cold, they were in no condition to sweatdrop.  
  
"Stupid old man. Just had to get us in trouble again......." an 11-year old Ranma muttered.  
  
The leader stepped up to Genma and clenched his hands into fists. "Hmph. And just why should I let you live?"  
  
Genma swallowed deeply, and did some quick thinking. "Y-you can have anything! You c-can have my son! Take him!"  
  
The ninja master ignored the indignant shout of 'Hey!' from behind his prisoner, and thought it over. Obviously this man was a coward, but still a formidible one. He wasn't really planning to kill them; little damage had been done, and Genma hadn't gotten away with anything. Besides, from the looks of things, these youths were more than they appeared, and he really didn't want to see how they reacted to lethal force. Besides, the clan could use such people.  
  
"Very well Saotome, I'll take you up on that. Take those three to the east hold! Saotome, you come with me!"  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Rayden blinked and scratched his chin. "Yeah... I remember that. That idiot Genma...... so that's where we met?"  
  
Cyrax shook his head. "No, I was still a trainee of 13, and not permitted to combat. I was mostly just a scout, which is actually where I enter this story. You see, that night, my father, head of that ninja regiment, engaged his daughter, and my younger sister, to Genma's son, Ranma."  
  
Rayden sighed. "Gee, this keeps getting better and better."  
  
Cyrax shrugged. "In any case, that's not why I'm here. As you no doubt recall, that night Genma coordinated an attack in which you all knocked out your guards and escaped........."  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
A 13-year old Cyrax jumps through the branches of the trees, making no sound louder than the rustle of leaves in a gentle wind. At his side he clutches a ninja-to in a scabbard tightly to him.  
  
  
  
'I found you and the others late in the evening.........'  
  
Cyrax sweatdrops as he witnesses Ranma and Rayden sparring. 'Sparring', in the sense that Rayden is smashing apart everything in sight in his attempts to hit Ranma, and Ranma is dodging like mad, while attacking at any opening he could find. Nearby, Kaze is meditating quietly. Cyrax is using almost all of his concentration to mask his presence.  
  
Eventually Genma calls out that dinner is ready. A tired Ranma and heavily bruised Rayden trudge up to the fire, whereupon Genma announces that since Rayden did so poorly, he can skip dinner in order to move a large pile of boulders into a ravine, rock by rock.  
  
Just about everybody protested this, but in the end, Genma's word was law, and Genma ate Rayden's portion of dinner while the starved teenager carried huge boulders on his back across nearly a kilometer of rocky terrain. Soon they had fallen asleep, all except for Rayden, who had more boulder to transport for no good reason.  
  
'As a scout, I was only supposed to find Ranma and report back. But I saw you all sleeping, and I couldn't resist the temptation to take him in myself, to gain prestige. I thought it would be child's play. It wasn't.'  
  
Cyrax peeks out of the bushes, then sees that everyone's sleeping softly, and creeps up to the campsite, still slightly illuminated by the fire's dying embers.  
  
He almost makes it to Ranma's sleeping bag, when Kaze suddenly wakes up groggily. Cyrax freezes.  
  
"Huh? Wha...?" Kaze blinks to clear the sleep from his eyes.  
  
This is apparently all the time Cyrax needs, as he looks around frantically and finds a good-sized rock, then picks it up and smashes it over Kaze's head before the priest could realize what was happening and raise a shield. Kaze goes out like a light.  
  
Cyrax sighed in relief. Then he realized that he had just made a lot of noise, and looked over to the Saotomes in panic. Both of them were sleeping like babies. He breathes another sigh of relief.  
  
That was when he felt a finger tap him on the shoulder.  
  
The young ninja blinked, then turned around just in time to recieve a gloved fist to the face. After impacting a tree heavily, Cyrax groggily gets up, and clears his vision just in time to make out the huge boulder that Rayden is holding above his head with the hand not balled into a fist. Rayden smirks, then tosses it at Cyrax. Cyrax is quick to act, hopping up on the tree, and rebounding off of it to jump onto the flying boulder and use it as a platform to jump at Rayden.  
  
Both boys unsheath their weapons at the same time, and as he descends, Cyrax strikes out with three quick thrusts with his ninja-to. Rayden is surprised, not used to fighting others with blades, but manages to block all the strikes with his sword, mostly out of pure reflex.  
  
Now it's Cyrax's turn to be surprised. How could he have repelled such quick thrusts with such a large, clumsy weapon? Not bothering to ponder the question, Cyrax presses the attack, simply trying to stab him with the ninja-to.  
  
Rayden's inexperience with this sort of fight, as well as the awkwardness of trying to block short thrusts with a heavy bastard sword, clearly shows as Cyrax begins to score small hits on his opponent.  
  
Rayden is suddenly starting to feel desperate, and commits himself to a course of action.  
  
Cyrax's next jab hit clean, tearing into the side of Rayden's chest and hitting bone. At the same time, Rayden makes an upward slash at Cyrax, who manages to dodge part of it, except that a large cut opens up on the left side of his face, and he screams in agony. Rayden himself clutches his chest in pain, and starts to feel dizzy as the young ninja sprints away.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Cyrax sighed. "Instead of a hero's reception, I was met with shame and scorn. Not only that, but the physical injury proved... somewhat permanent."  
  
Rayden was pale, and he gulped gently. "You mean... that was... you, and I... did that?" He pointed nervously at the other man's eyepatch.  
  
Cyrax nodded and smiled sadly. "The rest of my face healed without a scar. But my eye... will never recover."  
  
Rayden nodded, and some of the color returned. "So, this is about revenge, is it?"  
  
Cyrax shook his head. "Nonsense."  
  
Rayden blinked. "Huh?"  
  
"Given half the chance, I would have killed you. I am firmly of the belief that had that been a horizontal strike, I would be in two right now. I am not here for revenge. You managed to deflect my attacks with more skill and strength than my own teachers. And now that I've surpassed my teachers, it's time that I pitted myself against you, Rayden Shikodan."  
  
Rayden stared for a bit, then shrugged. "Eh, to each his own. Still, I'm sorry about the eye. I mean, that had to have hurt."  
  
"Oh, will you just draw already?!"  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
"So... Ranma... what's your favorite movie?" Yuka was desperate. All attempts at comminication had failed. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't hold a conversation with this guy!  
  
Ranma once again drew a blank look, which was an expression she was quickly getting used to. "Movie?"  
  
"Yeah, you know, like at the theatre......" Yuka prompted.  
  
Ranma concentrated. "........... Theatre?"  
  
Yuka fell down. Had he been raised in a barn or something? He seemed totally ignorant of all forms of popular culture. Music, television, movies, magazines......  
  
Getting up... "What do you do for fun?" She was just dying to know.  
  
Ranma shrugged. "Practice martial arts. Or hang around with Rayden. Why?"  
  
Yuka gave up conversation. They still had lunch. Maybe they could talk about food or something. He had at least expressed interest in THAT.  
  
  
  
Ranma had sensed the girl approaching long before he had even really noticed her, and made every effort to allow her room to pass. Still, somehow, she managed to trip over him while going in the opposite direction, and he lashed out with his arm to grab her before she hit the ground.  
  
"Hey, are you all right?" Ranma pulled her up and set her firmly on her feet, holding her up to ensure she wasn't dizzy or anything. He never noticed Yuka's scowl.  
  
The woman turned towards him with a sultry smile on her lips. She was about his height, if a little shorter, with luscious, dark purple hair and a curvaceous, buxom body that tightly pressed against the simple white t- shirt and short-shorts, showing quite an indecent amount of leg and cleavage. Yuka felt fat, ugly, and flat-chested just looking at her.  
  
The girl's smile turned even more seductive as she made no attempt to hide her appraisal of Ranma's body. "Yes, I'm fine. Thank you very much, Mr......" She flipped a lock of hair behind her ear in an alarmingly arousing way. She was quite simply the most beautiful female Ranma had ever seen, even outclassing Shampoo of the Amazons.  
  
"Ranma Saotome. Sorry about that." He stood her up, then took Yuka's hand and walked off.  
  
Yuka was planning on glaring at him and acting cold and distant, but the way he had just blown the woman off like that sort of ruined the atmosphere of betrayal and jealousy. Shrugging, she allowed herself to be led to the large grass field where she had suggested eating lunch.  
  
  
  
Nail stared at Ranma's back as he left, with that other girl trailing behind him.  
  
She blinked, then went over the checklist in her mind. She had done everything right: the sexy smile, the sexy outfit, the sexy flirting... what had gone wrong?  
  
"Whoa! Hey there baby, wanna go out for-UGH!" Ataru's head was smashed into the ground before he could even touch anything. Nail's experience with Happousai had made her particularly paranoid about weirdos coming out of nowhere and grabbing her, and now the mallet strike was entirely reflexive. In fact, she was no longer even using her normal weapon to make the hammer, instead managing to pull a wooden one from somewhere behind her back. She had no idea how she did it; she didn't even own a wooden mallet.  
  
Not completely deterred, Ataru latched onto her leg. "I... just wanted... to introduce... myself......" he gasped out, while simultaneously coughing up grass and dirt.  
  
She managed to ignore him, in favor of creaming the little pervert that was clutching her chest.  
  
She stopped, however, when she realized that instead of grinning his stupid little grin, he actually looked serious for a change.  
  
"Well now, I see that that's failed. Time for plan B!" He said it with determination and commitment to action. Then he gave her breasts a squeeze. Before he knew what hit him, he was on the ground spitting up grass with Ataru.  
  
"Idiots. If only that guy were half as stupid as you, this would be easy!" She growled out at them.  
  
  
  
*Swish*  
  
She only had a second's warning before the slip of paper hit her, slicing evenly through the air. As soon as it touched her forehead, it glowed brightly, before completely tearing apart into pinpricks of light and dissipating.  
  
Nail screamed as a searing pain shot through her, and suddenly her aura was illuminated for all to see.  
  
She turned a hateful glare to her left, to see Kaze standing there and glaring right back, his arms crossed inside the large sleeves of his kimono.  
  
The woman took a step forward, surrounded by fiery blackness, which was in turn surrounded by a halo of bright blue. She smirked slightly, and now fangs were clearly visible. Happousai and Ataru both blinked, and she used their distraction to kick them both away.  
  
"Well, if it isn't little Toren. Come to slay us, have you?" Her smirk grew.  
  
Kaze's expression remained calm, though he narrowed his eyes slightly. "I think it's the other way around. In any case, this ends here, demon." His arms seperated, and one of his hands poked out of his sleeves, revealing several slips of paper with various symbols on them.  
  
Nail laughed, and threw her hair back. "Oh please, save your pitiful white magics for third-rate shadows. Besides, I think you'll have plenty of trouble without having to deal with me." She put two fingers to her mouth and blew a shrill whistle.  
  
Kaze stretched his sense outward, locating several purely magical auras surrounding them, and one demonic aura a little ways behind him. Beyond that, he felt more magical auras surrounding the area of the park where Ranma was.  
  
He grimaced. In being so distracted, he had allowed the enemy the advantage of surprise, an advantage that could prove lethal. Purely magical auras indicated beings that were animated solely by magical energies, such as golems and zombies. These creatures held dark mana within them, as well as spirits trapped within the black web, so that indicated necromancy, and therefore the undead.  
  
Nail walked off unmolested, save the two perverts that kept trying to grab her. It was annoying having to kick them away every 10 seconds, but she still managed to do it and leave with a semblance of dignity.  
  
  
  
Kaze gave a cold look to her back, and further scanned his surroundings.  
  
*Shhhhhhh..."  
  
His barrier went up at the sound of steel cutting through air. A clawed chain slammed against the glass-like wall, bouncing off and onto the ground.  
  
Kaze watched as several pairs of glowing red eyes shone through the nearby bushes. Then a loud crashing sound was heard as the demonic presence charged through the foliage into the park pathway.  
  
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!" Bit bellowed mightily, swelling up to tremendous size and towering over the white star priest. All around him, the other figures began to emerge.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Ranma started as he heard a crashing sound in the distance, and stood up suddenly. Frowning, he concentrated, and searched the area around him for...... aw, nuts.  
  
"Ranma? What's-waaugh!" Yuka was quite literally swept off her feet as Ranma picked her up and leapt away with her in his arms, just in time for two lengths of chain to shoot out and impact the small area where their meal was going to be held.  
  
Ranma growled and put Yuka down. Yuka gaped and backed away from the whole scene.  
  
"All right, who's there? Show yourself!"  
  
They did. A dozen fairly short figures, just below 5 feet tall, dressed in identical leather samurai armor, each carrying a katana and a clawed chain which was wrapped around their waist. Each one also wore a wide, conical hat like Cherry, that seemed to pull the shadows onto their faces. The only thing visible from under it was their glowing red eyes.  
  
Ranma's eyes narrowed in recognition of the creatures. "Hajime... damn." Not that he couldn't handle 12 fairly skilled zombie swordsmen, but hajime were always used as ground troops and cannon fodder, which meant that there was some kind of leader, or at least cover fire, waiting to make itself known.  
  
Ranma put Yuka down. "All right, look, things are gonna get messy in a few seconds. I want you to go over to that big tree over there and stay put. If anything notices you, point to it and yell. Got it?"  
  
"Uhhhh..." Yuka was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that there were a bunch of evil samurai attacking their picnic.  
  
Seeing that she wasn't moving, and that the hajime were, albeit cautiously, he gave her a shove toward the tree he had indicated to before charging into the fray.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
*Ching* *K-shink* *Klang*  
  
Cryax's katana glanced off of Rayden's blade, creating a short shower of sparks. He brought his sword around for two more attacks, each one cleanly blocked.  
  
On the next strike Rayden executed a swing rather than just a block, and there was another burst of light and fire before half of Cyrax's katana went flying off to the side.  
  
Cyrax hopped back, and his hand suddenly made several quick motions. Rayden twirled his sword around in a circle in front of him, and the shuriken bounced off of it like it was a solid shield.  
  
Cyrax drew two kodachi, and charged.  
  
Rayden managed to deflect each strike seperately, then beat back the shorter blades before winding up for a downward slash. Cyrax brings his kodachi back together to block in an X position, and Rayden cuts cleanly through the middle of it.  
  
The ninja grimaced, then backed off slightly before reaching into his cloak and throwing his arm out in a wide arc.  
  
Rayden leapt straight up, clearing the perfectly horizontal line of throwing daggers by a good 10 feet before landing again. Cyrax reached under his cloak again, and this time pulled out a quarter staff.  
  
Rayden sweatdropped. This was getting ridiculous. "How many weapons do you have, anyway?"  
  
Cyrax smiled slightly, not that Rayden could tell, since his mouth was covered. "In order to find you, I took up traveling with another young man that had the a similar goal. I ended up in China, and took the liberty of learning a very useful technique from a nearby village. Without anybody's knowledge, I might add."  
  
Rayden chuckled. "Nice."  
  
Cyrax tensed, and stood up straight. "Nonetheless, it would seem that your skills are as sharp as ever. I truly doubt that I could hope to defeat you by skill of sword alone."  
  
Rayden blinked, and he scratched his head. "Uh, maybe this sounds stupid, I don't know, but does that mean you give up?"  
  
Without a work, Cyrax grabbed a corner of his cloak, then pulled it over himself. And disappeared. Completely. The cloak seemed to fold in on itself, and suddenly there was nothing.  
  
Rayden stared. Then he looked around. He simply couldn't see anything other than an abandoned construction site.  
  
"So does this mean I win?" He called out.  
  
*Wham!* His question was answered by a quarter staff to the back of his head. Slightly dazed, Rayden turned around to see Cyrax standing behind him, his staff at the ready and his cloak billowing dramatically in a non- existant headwind.  
  
The ninja chuckled. "Behold! The Hitokage's second most dreaded technique! Midnight's eye! The ability to cloak yourself completely in broad daylight and strike at will!"  
  
Rayden considered this for a moment. "What's the most dreaded technique?"  
  
Cyrax blinked, then scowled and lowered his head before muttering something.  
  
"What'd you say?" Rayden took a step closer.  
  
"It's none of your business! Now prepare yourself!" Cyrax pulled the same trick as before, pulling the cloak over his body and completely disappearing from view.  
  
Rayden stood up, and cupped his chin in his hand contemplatively. Then he smirked slightly.  
  
He crossed his arms over his chest, and was suddenly engulfed by a thin yellow aura.  
  
"Jishin!" He thrust his arms out suddenly, and a powerful gust blasted away from him in all directions. There was a loud grunt, and Rayden turned around to see an hazy outline of Cyrax's form ripple out from the air.  
  
Cyrax was still partially stunned from the wave of pure power disrupting his concentration so suddenly, and couldn't recover before he was sent reeling from a boot to the midsection.  
  
*Klang* Cyrax impacted heavily against a standing steel girder, his entire body aching from the hit. Still, he managed a fairly quick recovery, and would have leapt right back into the fight, except that Rayden was currently holding the tip of his sword against his neck.  
  
Rayden looked down at him evenly, a hand tucked in his pocket. "Concede defeat. Now."  
  
Cyrax stared up at him, then sighed. "I concede. You have won."  
  
Rayden smiled and sheathed his sword. Then he jumped up onto the girder he had arrived on. "Oh yeah! Victory stance!" He suddenly turned away and thrust a fist into the air, which glowed and sparkled in a brilliant, though thoroughly useless utilization of ki energy. Then he made a V with the fingers on that same hand, and reached into his trench coat before pulling out a bottle of booze and chugging it down.  
  
Cyrax stared and large bead of sweat rolled down his head.  
  
Rayden apparently noticed, because he stopped drinking and held the bottle out to him. "Sorry. Did you want some?"  
  
The young ninja was about to shake his head no, when another voice spoke from behind the pair.  
  
  
  
"I could use a drink."  
  
Rayden whirled around, not noticing as the bottom part of his coat whipped Cyrax in the face. Standing just a few meters away was a man with unnaturally chiseled features, and another who was remarkably fat.  
  
Rayden grinned. "Well well, what have we here? I suppose you two are the from the construction commitee, eh?"  
  
The grotesquely obese man stepped forward, not saying a word.  
  
Cyrax was currently glancing at the new arrivals in confusion. Something wasn't right here, though he wasn't sure what it was.  
  
Rayden moved, and suddenly he had his sheathed blade in one hand, while his other one glowed slightly. "Why don't you drop the disguises boys? I know you're not here for tea."  
  
The thinner man smiled and clapped lightly. "Very good Shikodan! Was my guise really that bad?"  
  
He stopped clapping, and then he exploded outward. Skin-like shreds of nameless material littered the ground, revealing an insecticoid/humanoid figure. It had two arms, one a fairly normal hand and the other a large 3- fingered claw. It had two reverse-joint legs, and two long tentacles in its back. Its head held 3 compound eyes, and a pair of mandibles. Its entire body, save the tentacles, was covered in chitineous armor, and around its blocky waist a belt held a sheathed scimitar.  
  
Rayden whistled and gave a thumbs-up. "Nice..."  
  
The fat man exploded the same way, revealing Rotor. Big whoop.  
  
Cyrax was now understandably horrified. What were these things?  
  
The insecticoid drew its scimitar and pointed toward Rayden. "I am known as Bolt," he hissed out in raspy voice, "and now you will die."  
  
Rayden smirked "No kidding? Bolt, huh? I think I'm starting to sense a pattern here." The glow in his left hand intensified, and leaked into the air above his palm into a sphere of white light. Then his smirk fell, and he stood up straight, not dispersing the ki ball.  
  
"Hold it." He turned to Bolt, who also stood up out of his ready stance. "If I kill you, will you die?"  
  
Bolt would have blinked, but lacked eyelids in his true form. "No."  
  
Rayden's expression fell. "Dang. This is gonna suck."  
  
  
  
Rotor moved, bringing to bear one of its steel arms, a mess of pipes, cables and blades. The metal seemed to rearrange itself before turning into a sort of twisted gun, and firing an oblique blast of energy at Rayden.  
  
Bolt quickly followed suit, gathering his ki energy in his clawed hand and tossing it right at his opponent.  
  
Rayden scowled, and then let loose the energy he had gathered. "Iczer beam!" The white blast completely overwhelmed and absorbed the incoming projectiles, and smashed into both demons. Bolt used his own aura to help absorb the wall of pure force trying to tear him apart, but Rotor wasn't so lucky, and was ripped to shreds by the pounding detonation of the beam.  
  
Bolt had already recovered, and was automatically regenerating the damage even as he charged Rayden, who himself was struggling with the drain of his attack.  
  
*Kshing* Sparks flew as enchanted metal met enchanted metal, and both combatants used their supernatural strength to beat the others' blade aside. Bolt quickly learned that he wasn't quite up to par, however, as Rayden threw him back before slashing again.  
  
The demon jumped over the strike, then lashed out in a fearsome kick to Rayden's chest, raking it with its claws.  
  
The swordsman paid the injury no mind and attacked again, this time angling his strike so that Bolt would have to use both hands to block with his sword. Beating away his opponent's sword, he hacked down to cut off the offending limb, before paying for the strike with a ki-enhanced claw slash to the shoulder.  
  
Blood sprayed across the ground as it flew out of the wound, and Rayden grit his teeth before smashing his knee into the insecticoid's midsection, giving way to the rather unpleasant sound of a shell breaking and stabbing into the flesh underneath.  
  
Bolt would have none of it, though, and slapped him away with a tentacle before kicking him in the stomach and then sending him into the ground by twirling around and whipping him with another tentacle.  
  
"Shikodan, look out! Steel zephyr!" Bolt turned at the voice just in time to see the stream of glowing shuriken before they hit him, cutting through carapace and flesh alike.  
  
Rayden also turned to look, to see that Rotor was currently in a pool of unidentifiable liquids, with a scythe lodged in the back of what was presumably his head. He also noted that Cyrax seemed oblivious to the crackle of electricity as the demon cyborg resurrected itself.  
  
"Ayakana! Watch your back!" He found a convenient hunk of concrete roughly his size and threw it, crushing the monster and prompting another resurrection.  
  
He was then aware of Cyrax flicking several knives just past him, and turned to see Bolt, who had mostly regenerated, backing away from the line of projectiles.  
  
Bolt snarled and leapt, angling to come down at Rayden with his scimitar and talons.  
  
Rayden surprised him by jumping up to meet him, and swinging his sword in a wide arc.  
  
Bolt's body split into two halves after they passed each other, and he impacted the ground in a bloody mess.  
  
Rayden approached cautiously as his body dissolved into a green, liquid light, then reformed itself into his natural shape.  
  
The poor demon was once again cut in two at the waist, this time before he could even percieve what was happening.  
  
Once again he melted, and again he reformed, right before his head was cut off.  
  
Die. Melt. Grow. Repeat.  
  
By now Rayden was understandably upset, and when Bolt reformed, he was merely impaled through the chest.  
  
"You know, this is getting kind of tiresome," he complained.  
  
"Agreed," rasped out Bolt, right before Rayden forced his sword upward and through his skull.  
  
  
  
Meanwhile, Cyrax had been observing Rotor the whole time. Rotor had been crushed to death by the conrete chunk, and Cyrax noted that it seemed to be taking him a rather long time to regenerate, presumably because of the rock displacing much of the space the creature needed to reform.  
  
Rotor had regenerated, the electrical energies had just sort of gathered to the side and slowly formed the bigger parts out from under the boulder, but even now that he was alive again, the demon was struggling to get the concrete off of him.  
  
A strategy forming in his mind, Cyrax thrust a katana into the unfortunate creature's head, and turned towards Rayden.  
  
"Shikodan! I have an idea! Follow me!" Luckily, both opponents were dead at that moment, so there was nothing to tip them off that the humans had a plan.  
  
Rayden watched as Cyrax leapt up onto the skeleton of steel girders that made up the building whose construction had ceased. Reluctantly, he smashed Bolt over the head with a wheelbarrow to stun him before following his comrade/rival.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Kaze's gaze was focused on nothing, his eyes staring off at a certain point in the distance, seemingly ignoring Bit and the hajime that surrounded him.  
  
Hajime were different from traditional 'cannon fodder' undead in that they were much smarter and more skilled. 'Hajime' meant beginning, or rebirth. It was said that the spirits which were trapped in the revived bodies of the hajime were the souls of samurai who had dishonored themselves during their lives. Kaze had always thought this odd, since this particular type of zombie hadn't originated from Japan or even this dimension, and from what he had read, there were no warriors with such a close resemblance to Japan's traditional soldier caste in Chryslon.  
  
Suddenly Kaze turned to face one of them, as if indicating that he had commited to an action. His hands came together, hidden within his voluminous sleeves, and suddenly spread his arms wide, scattering paper wards into the air around him. Then he put his palms together, and a halo of white light blasted out from his body, striking the wards and causing them to freeze in the air, then flatten and stand perpendicular to the ground.  
  
Several of the hajime charged, but as soon as they got within a meter of a ward, it would disappear into a white ribbon which blasted the hajime away almost completely, shattering the bonds of necromancy which animated them. 4 of the demon soldiers perished before the rerst got the idea that Kaze's immediate vicinity had been turned into a minefield.  
  
Bit had watched all of this, and decided to just rush in and start pounding things rather than try and figure it out. Almost all the wards activated and struck at his charge, having, predictably, little effect. Demonic and necromantic energies are totally different things, the former being almost impossible to disrupt, as all demonic auras are naturally chaotic.  
  
Bit's massive fists hit an invisible shield, and he growled with rage as he pounded on it again and again. The hajime waited patiently, those surrounding Bit not wanting to be accidentally crushed, and those on the other side staying away from the remaining ward traps behind the monstrous demon's assault.  
  
  
  
Eventually Bit realized he wasn't doing much more than making a nuisance of himself, and stopped his attack to glare down at the White Star priest.  
  
"Meinat gesha rashka, yaga!" He said it with confidence, almost arrogance.  
  
Kaze lowered his head. "Suska lota non dyenot. Colsha."  
  
Bit blink-blinked. Well, two of his eyes did. The other one was sort of out of sync with the others, so it only blinked once.  
  
/"You speak the language of my people?"/  
  
Kaze sweatdropped slightly. /"Well, duh."/  
  
Bit snarled angrily. /"Then know this, human! I will tear you apart and feast on your entrails!"/  
  
Kaze's gaze didn't waver. /"You will fall, and be returned to your home dimension, just like last time."/  
  
Bit winced. Last time had been painful. Very painful. If he weren't so incredibly stupid, he might have actually started to act more careful around humans.  
  
/"Your friends' dues will be paid in your blood!"/  
  
Kaze didn't waste any more time with words. He reached down the robe to about waist level, and pulled out a shiny, perfectly straight dagger. With it he scrawled something in the dirt around him, then stepped back and started concentrating.  
  
One of the problems with his tactical situation was that the nature of his powers didn't allow him much room in fighting a great number or variety of creatures. His own powers relied upon the exploitation of specific weaknesses, and as he was faced with two very distinct types of opponents, utilizing either anti-undead magic or straight battle wards would be distrastrous, as either party could easily butcher him while his back was turned dealing with the other. Hell, this was why he kept Rayden and Ranma around for. It sure wasn't for the conversation.  
  
As it was though, he did have one edge; none of his opponents could use even the most basic of attack magics.  
  
He dropped his own shield as his mana flows were redirected into the symbol below him, and an independent, though comparitively weak shield shot up as a column around him.  
  
"Spirits of fire and ice! I summon thee! Come forth from your elemental planes!" Twin lights of blue and red appeared in each of his hands.  
  
By now his opponents had decided that it would be a good time to attack, and they started pounding on the physical shield Kaze had erected, though Kaze's back was still covered by the few undead wards still floating in midair.  
  
The phoenix screeched as it came alive in Kaze's hand, growing and spreading its flaming wings. In his other hand, a small pinnacle of blue light appeared, and growing in intensity, hopped off of the priest's hand.  
  
/"All right,"/ Kaze's eyes narrowed, /"as Master Saotome would say, 'now the fun begins.' Simalcrum mirror!"/ The white priest disappeared, and then several of them reappeared, scattered across the field. The hajime wouldn't even see the illusionary images, but to Bit the priest had just evened up the numbers.  
  
Nonetheless, the monster continued pounding on the shield, which quickly shattered as if made of glass, before fading away, the mark on the Earth smearing into incomprehensibility.  
  
The phoenix and sprite spread out immediately, blowing heat and cold into the ranks of the undead samurai. While this did little to actually harm them, their natural impulse was to first concentrate on killing the target's summoned spirits rather than deal with the target himself. Chains and swords were batted away with fiery wings and ice bolts as the spirits sought to distract the vicious zombies from their master.  
  
Bit watched in a cruel mix of fascination and terror as he and his minions were surrounded by Kazes. Deciding on a course of action (IE, it was the only thing he could think of), the massive creature started smashing priests, becoming more and more shocked as he found that each one was just an illusion.  
  
All the images of Kaze took a moment to throw a few undead-killing wards into the surrounding fray, then the white priest stopped and lowered his head in concentration.  
  
Had Bit actually had more than 5 brain cells, he might have just looked at the hajime that had actually been struck, then figured out at least which area the actual wards must've come from.  
  
But instead he continued randomly thrashing Kazes, growling and cursing in his native tongue as he found each one to be insubstantial.  
  
Then the voice. Something called out from within him. He stopped his violence as his vision began to blur.  
  
His enemy wasn't just in front of him. No. He was surrounded by enemies! All these creatures wanted to harm him!  
  
With an unearthly snarl, he dug both sets of claws into the ground and wound his tail/foot up for a swing.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Kaze focused hard, devoting the entiredy of his mind and soul to the task before him. If the phoenix or sprite proved unable to hold off the hajime until he was done...  
  
Well, he wouldn't put much money on him healing an impalement through the chest, especially on himself.  
  
His concentration was almost broken by a sudden eruption in the nearby streams, but with effort he ignored it.  
  
'First, to breach his defenses......... let me into your mind. Let me roam within-' he was in.  
  
'Wow, that was fast. Let's see now...' Mental manipulation wasn't something that Kaze was good at. As a fairly moral person, he always did his best to respect other's privacy of their own mind, despite the way his telepathy allowed him to read into people's thoughts far more intimately than he had let on to his friends. He hardly had any practice putting in new thoughts.  
  
Still, this was proving a rather simple exercise. Bit's brain, if it could be called that, had three main areas: What to fear, what to eat, and what to break into little itty-bitty pieces. This is actually something like he imagined Rayden's mind would look like.  
  
In any case, he directed his energies towards the 'smash' portion of Bit's consciousness, and blurred the concept just a smudge. Consequently, he felt the 'fear' part grow as the list of Bit's foes grew to iclude the preoccupied hajime.  
  
Kaze was oblivious as the phoenix let out a screech of pain.  
  
  
  
The fire bird waved tiny, painful flares at the hajime as it flew over them, favoring its left wing, which had been spared impalement from the offending katana. Most of the hajime followed its flight, ready to let loose their chains should the elemental slow down to return and rake them with its red-hot talons. Most.  
  
One of the hajime, who happened to be in just the right position to notice, realized that he was looking at the original target's unprotected back, and that the target himself seemed to be in some kind of deep meditation. This particular soul wasn't one to pass up a free shot, so he brought out his own chain and twirled it around in the air to accelerate it.  
  
The steel blade was suddenly loosed, flying through the air with lethal accuracy and a good 20 more pounds of metal behind it towards the back of the white priest's unprotected neck.  
  
Kaze remained ignorant to his imminent danger as it sped toward him.  
  
*Smash!*  
  
The metal chain was suddenly robbed of its length and fell short as a huge, fleshy tail came down upon Kaze's unfortunate assassin, smearing him into the dirt and stopping the chain's passage.  
  
All the hajime stopped dealing with their present annoyance, be it flaming feather darts or golfball hail, and turned to watch as their leader apparently went mad, tearing apart anything and everything that was nearby. Claws tore through torsos and fists powdered bone as Bit slaughtered the hajime nearest to him.  
  
Now, hajime, while being far more intelligent than your average undead creature, still didn't possess the knowledge to understand this, or the reasoning to prepare a suitable countermeasure. Running was out of the question, as they had all been taught in life and bound in death to fight and fall without fear. They were further confused by the way he would stop to smash an area where nothing stood, then grin as if some victory had been attained at this feat.  
  
Kaze opened his eyes, then watched as the dim-witted beast continued stomping his minions. He quickly dispelled both the illusionary spell and the spell binding the elementals to the mortal plane, and he was suddenly alone with the monstrosity.  
  
  
  
Bit finished off the hajime by biting the zombie cleanly in two, and standing up, realized that he had finally been able to discern the actual Kaze from all the others that had suddenly appeared.  
  
He snarled. /"Well priest, it's time for you to leave this place. Soon you will be on the other end of an exorcism!"/  
  
Kaze pointed behind him. /"You missed one."/  
  
*Crunch*  
  
Bit cleaned his claws of the remnants of the final hajime. /"Anyway, now you die, fool!"/  
  
Kaze smiled lightly and shook his head as Bit charged, his muscular tail propelling him through the grass like a snake's would, and his fist poised to smash the priest into a bloody pulp.  
  
*Wham*  
  
Bit groaned as his face slid down the barrier.  
  
/"You are the fool. With but one opponent I can crush you at my leisure."/ Kaze took out a particularly large ward with a far more intricate design than his usual kind. Holding it in the air, the white priest spoke words that very few on that plane would understand. Bit was one of them.  
  
The ward straightened out parallel to the ground, then shot out at Bit, who tried, and failed, to scamper away in time.  
  
The monster screamed in agony as light suddenly seeped into the area that the ward had struck, then spread across his back like a plague, though it was quite obviously the opposite. Demonic flesh twisted and paled even as the creature's peculiar energies tried to reassert themselves to bring back the missing body mass.  
  
Nevertheless, the latter energy overcame the former, and soon a trio of furious eyes turned toward he who would attack their owner.  
  
Then Bit saw the second ward coming, and realized that he had lost.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
"Hyah!" A roundhouse to the midsection sent another hajime flying backward into one of it's companions, stunning both and allowing Ranma time to deal with the other two trying to stab him from behind.  
  
His foot caught the flat of one blade, and with a smart twist of his leg, that one was disarmed of his katana.  
  
The other one made a thrust for his abdoment, and was rudely tossed into two of it comrades, who were still getting up.  
  
Ranma advanced on the fourth, who was hastily trying to prepare its chain for the attack. Ranma didn't give it a chance, blasting the zombie swordsman with a ki-powered open-palm strike that just about shattered its entire body.  
  
He twirled around, focusing on the last hajime in the area. "Himei ramei denko!"  
  
*Boom!* no more spirit soldiers.  
  
Yuka timidly poked her head around the tree, wondering if it was safe to come out or what. As a person who had lived in Nerima all her life, she was perfectly accustomed to random destruction and people turning out to have extraordinary powers, but she was still upset that it had ruined her date.  
  
  
  
Ranma looked around, unsure if he should put his guard down. So far there hadn't been any surprises waiting behind the group of zombies, but that didn't mean there wasn't one.  
  
His fears were confirmed as he heard a slow, steady clapping, and turned to see the same purple-haired woman from before standing among the trees bordering the field.  
  
"Now, if you're done playing around with the weaklings, perhaps you'd like a real challenge." She flashed him a licentious smile, revealing a pronounced pair of fangs, then crossed her arms over her face.  
  
When Nail split her arms apart, her dress tore completely as two large, shiny black wings apparently made of metal plates sprouted from her back and stretched themselves out. The tatters of cotton and denime floated to the Earth to reveal only a blue silk scarf that wound around the back of her neck and had both ends tied to her waist, not really covering her breasts that well at all. The only other thing that could possibly be mistaken for any sort of clothing were the plain blue panties under the fringed blue scarf that were plainly visible from several angles. All in all, she was a sight that made most succubi look like conservative dressers.  
  
Ranma was less concerned with the outfit than he was with the wings. "Hey, doesn't that hurt?"  
  
Nail was about to go into the posing and the introduction, but stopped at his question. "Huh?"  
  
"The wings," Ranma elaborated, "doesn't it hurt when they rip out of your back like that?"  
  
She blinked. "Uh...... no?"  
  
Ranma shrugged. "Oh. I was just wondering."  
  
Nail stopped to remember what had just been going on, then realized she hadn't made her intro yet.  
  
"Well mortal! You did rather well with those pathetic excuses for racid fodder, but now you face Nail, and-"  
  
With her deadly smiled on full force, and her forefinger outstretched towards the one who would be her enemy, her speech was cut off by two full- force attacks.  
  
"HOTCHA!!!" *Glomp*  
  
"WHOA BABY!!!" *Glomp*  
  
Ranma sweatdropped as his cousin and a tiny old man grabbed on to various parts of Nail's body.  
  
Nail waved her wings to generate some lift to keep her balance, then realized what it was that kept her from her target. "Argh! Damn it! You two ruined my dramatic introduction!"  
  
The subjects of her ire weren't listening, however.  
  
"Hey, whaddya think you're doing grabbing onto my woman kid?!" Ancient lecher glared down at teenage one from his position hanging onto Nail's breasts.  
  
Ataru returned the gesture with interest. "Your woman?! I don't see your name on her! Why don't you go pick up some chicks your own age, like the ones at the nursing home!"  
  
Happousai would've given the dope a royal pounding if he wasn't in such an enviable position at the moment. "Get lost, you insolent little punk! I've got dibs!"  
  
Nail was, needless to say, quite miffed at being groped and then ignored. Her body flashed blue, and both perverts were incased in large ice cubes.  
  
Seeing how she had no use for Moroboshi, she simply kicked him away. Then she transformed her multi-weapon into a pair of ice tongs, and held the frozen Happousai out at Ranma threateningly.  
  
".................................................................."  
  
To find that the young Saotome had apparently forgotten the whole thing, and was busily eating the lunch that Yuka had packed for their date.  
  
"Hey you! We're kind of in the middle of something here! I would appreciate it if you would pay more attention!" Ranma looked up, puzzled at why she should be so angry. Nonetheless, he shrugged and moved away from the food, hoping that it was far enough away so as not to be damaged in the upcoming battle.  
  
Nail cleared her throat. "All right. I'm Nail, I was sent here to kill you, and this little freak here was sent with me to help. Now die!" Introductions finished, she threw the hunk of ice and Happousai at the ground in front of Ranma, where the former shattered and the latter was released.  
  
  
  
Ranma scowled slightly and set one foot behind the other as he shifted into a ready stance. If this little gnome/troll/ghoul/little, ugly, perverted monster of your choice was being sent straight up against him, then that meant that he was going to be more trouble than he appeared to be.  
  
To both parties' surprise, instead of attacking Ranma, he turned tearful eyes toward the object of his lusts.  
  
"Nail, baby, how could you do that to a poor, defenseless old man? Is one little cheap feel really too much to ask?" He sniffled for effect.  
  
Nail was understandably furious. "You moron! That's the target! Keep him busy while I-"  
  
*Punt* *Wham!* Ranma retracted his leg as Happousai's head became one with the nearby tree.  
  
Nail slapped her forehead, then realized that the target was rushing toward her, no doubt with malevolent intention. With a strong flap of her wings, the gorgeous demon lifted herself from the Earth, and hovered in the air as she thrust her arms out. "Icicle assault!" Several sparkles of blue light materialized around her outstretched hands, forming razor-sharp icicles which rocketed toward Ranma and stuck into the ground.  
  
Ranma himself had flipped away. Nail continued her magical assault. "Ice beam!" The blue-white beam of light reminded Ranma of Rayden's own energy attack as he hopped to the side, except that Nail's left a coat of jagged ice all over the impact site.  
  
Ranma smirked. "Eh, I'm not impressed. Why don't you just go all out and change into your real form?"  
  
Nail stopped charging her next attack and blinked. "Real form? What? This is my real form!"  
  
"No it's not!" Ranma insisted.  
  
"Is too!" Nail was fairly certain she would've remembered if she had another transformation available.  
  
Ranma shook his head. "Everybody knows that demons only have bodies like that to get men to lower their guards before they transform into some hideous, clawed beast and eat them." Or at least that was what Kaze had said. Sort of.  
  
Nail fumed. "Look! I don't have a hideous form! I'm one-hundred-and-ten percent pure beauty!" She caught and updraft and did a sideways pose in the wind, her hair flowing in the air majestically.  
  
Ranma regarded her for a moment with his chin in his hand, then shrugged. "Oh. Never mind then." Then he charged.  
  
Nail, being a very bright demon with a deep understanding of tactics and human pychology, realized that the last few moments of conversation could be taken to mean that he outclassed her at such a level that he didn't want to fight someone so weak. That wasn't in fact what Ranma was trying to say, but it was close enough.  
  
She flew higher into the air, only to be followed by Ranma, who leapt off a tall tree right under her and shot up to meet her. She took out her weapon, her golden rod, though she really doubted her ability to physically fend off someone who had downed so many hajime so easily.  
  
Luckily, she didn't have to as another figure met him in midair, tagged him with a pipe, and sent the young martial artist sailing toward a tree, which he impacted heavily.  
  
"About time you idiot!" Before she had finished the sentence, naturally, Happousai had somehow found his way onto her lap.  
  
"Anytime sweetie!" *Wang* The sound of metal hitting bone echoed through the park as one of Nail's wings smashed itself against Happousai's face.  
  
Nail snarled, then blinked as she realized that the ancient lecher was flying through the air with a very familiar article of clothing......  
  
"Gack! My panties! Give those back, you sick little garthna!" Demonic languages were far more useful for offensive language than Japanese, though the insult's severity was lost on its target. Happousai found himself snatched from the air and relieved of the garment. He would have protested the loss of 'his' property, except that he was mesmerized by the sight of Nail's brests bouncing behind the silk cloth as she struggled into her underwear.  
  
He didn't get to enjoy it long. Nail grabbed him in both hands, then turned back towards her target. "All right you-!"  
  
Only to find that he had again lost interest, and was finishing off the lunch.  
  
Nail commenced a painful, 30-foot face fault.  
  
Ranma, Happousai, and Yuka, who was still hiding behind the tree, all held up cards with '10' on them.  
  
Nail picked herself off the ground, and without a word, flung Happousai at Ranma.  
  
Ranma blinked, then did a roundhouse kcik that knocked Happousai right back to his origin.  
  
Nail snarled. "Why you!" She made a bat with her admittedly nifty weapon, then smashed the old man back toward Ranma.  
  
Ranma kicked Happousai straight up, then jumped up himself and backhanded him towards Nail.  
  
Nail's eyes narrowed, and she floated up slightly, then made a golf club from the bat, and drove the pervert-turned-projectile back at her opponent.  
  
Ranma grabbed the old man this time, and then smashed him into the ground. Heaving a sigh, he looked up at the woman silently glaring daggers at him.  
  
"Look, demon or not, you look enough like a human so that I've gone easy on you, but you hafta stop this, or someone's gonna get hurt." He spared a glance at the reeling form of Happousai. "Other than him."  
  
Nail's glare turned into a haughty expression of defiance. "You will not leave this battle alive, human. Happousai! Distract him for a few moments!" She spread her black wings wide, her entire body glowed blue, and she started floating in the air as a cyan sphere materialized above her.  
  
  
  
Ranma had rushed to the offensive, when he was slammed out of the way by what appeared to be a white comet. Getting up out of the small crater, Ranma grimaced as the energy died to reveal Happousai, actually looking serious about the upcoming battle.  
  
"Son, nothing personal now, but the pretty lady says you gotta go, so you gotta go!"  
  
Ranma smirked slightly. "Yeah, yeah, let's get on with it, 'kay gramps?"  
  
Happousai charged, then jumped around the numerous punches and kicks that made up Ranma's defensive screen.  
  
Ranma moved his body slightly to the side, and the aged lecher's pipe missed his torso by mere millimeters. He tried to bring his elbow down on his foe, only to find that Happousai had somehow found his way behind him, and was consequently tossed into the air.  
  
Ranma gained control of his flight, then flipped to his feet to land on the ground.  
  
Happousai grinned. "Not bad kid, but I won't let some young whelp who thinks he's a demon hunter stop me!"  
  
Ranma growled. "Bite me! Are you gonna fight, or are you gonna blab?!"  
  
The two rushed at each other, each glowing as their auras raged with full force. There was a blinding flash as they met, and both skidded away from the area of convergence.  
  
Ranma groaned as bruises started appearing on his legs, having taken the brunt of the attack.  
  
Happousai's wound was about half the size of Ranma's, but as he was about 1/4 Ranma's size, twice as much of his body had been subjected to remarkable pain.  
  
They turned around, each intent on paying the other back with interest, when all hell broke loose.  
  
  
  
"Glacier!" As Nail spoke the name of her most powerful spell, all the water from with nearly 2 kilometers blasted into the air in large pillars, then gathered toward the huge, glowing blue sphere that the demoness held above her head.  
  
Smiling in positive delight, she flew away as the water quickly turned to ice, forming a shell over the globe of mana. The sphere shattered, sending lightning bolts of frost magic coursing through the mass of liquid, turning some water to ice while leaving other water trapped within the ice.  
  
Ranma and Happousai watched in awe, and soon they beheld a gigantic, jagged, floating ice mountain.  
  
Ranma gave an appreciative whistle. "That 'aint bad......"  
  
Nail laughed aloud. "Oh, but the best is yet to come!"  
  
Suddenly, the bottom of the ice cracked slightly, and, proving unable to hold the tons upon tons of water now free of whatever protection it had held against gravity, dumped a shower of ice water and just ice onto Ranma and his short opponent.  
  
Both had the sense to get out of the way, and watched as the ice chunks pulverized the Earth, while the freezing water, promising death to those that it touched, flowed about the ground.  
  
There were more cracks, and more ice fell.  
  
Ranma had just finished dodging a third ice flow when he was forced to jump over a hail of icicles. Cursing his rotten luck, Ranma looked about to see trees getting splintered by huge ice chunks, and fearfully looked about for Yuka. He heaved a sigh of relief when he realized that she had backed off to a safe distance.  
  
Ranma locked his eyes on Nail, and commited himself to a course of action. He zig-zagged through the showers of frozen water, approaching the source of the destruction, who had prepared for his approach with another barrage of frozen spikes.  
  
As he approached, Nail grinned, realizing that she had him trapped betweent two icy waterfalls of the glacier, that was rapidly shrinking as it rained death across the battlefield.  
  
What unnerved her was that he grinned back.  
  
Jumping up, Ranma fed pure power to his feet, as he prepared a new technique on the spot, as he was wont to do. "Blade kick!"  
  
Ranma's feet lashed out with impossible speed as his leap took him towards his oppenent, shattering each icicle with uncanny precision and leaving his foot unscathed.  
  
He had almost made it when a large part of the glacier above broke and plummeted right in front of him. Quickly implementing a finishing move to his new technique, Ranma landed onto the jagged ice boulder with one foot, while sweeping his other across it, and slicing it cleanly through the middle. With that he pushed the upper half of the boulder toward Nail, while jumping clear himself as it smashed into the ground, sending frozen splinters everywhere.  
  
Nail gulped as she beheld the large projectile, and wrapped her metallic wings around her body. The ice impacted her with an audible *CLANG*, but other than shaking her up badly, no damage had been done.  
  
  
  
Ranma growled, then tried to think of another way to handle this.  
  
Well, all that was really keeping him from thrashing that woman was the flows of water and ice above them.  
  
Simple problem. Simple solution.  
  
Ranma hopped into one of the water flows, finding purchase with his foot on a rapidly falling piece of ice, and rebounding off it onto another chunk descending from a different waterfall. Soon he had reached the floating piece of ice itself, and easily jumped onto the main body of frozen water.  
  
Nail cursed at the miserable little human as he danced up and out of harm's way. Didn't these stupid mortals know when to lay down and die?  
  
She flew up around the edge of the glacier, transforming her weapon into a bow as she did so.  
  
Finding Ranma standing proudly upon the tip of one of the crags, she pulled back the string on the bow, and a shimmering arrow of yellow power appeared there.  
  
She let it fly, and Ranma didn't even have to move as it flew past him into one of the adjoining chunks of ice. It exploded violently, and that entire section broke off in a shower of ice and water, which soon obliterated a good section of the park that was under it.  
  
Ranma smirked slightly. "Gotta do better than that!"  
  
She cursed to herself. Magical arrows were powerful, but they followed totally different laws than physical ones when shot, and she had never had much experience with that type of weapon anyway. Then she remembered what type of weapon she was experienced with, and smiled a very evil smile.  
  
Ranma blinked as the bow shifted form into a long bullwhip with a thin blade at the end. Then he dodged desperately as she snapped it at the place where he had been just seconds before. He was eventually forced to dodge all over the glacial body as Nail pursued him just above, snapping her deadly weapon with remarkable accuracy.  
  
Soon two more sections of the glacier had descended, leaving only the main chunk, Ranma's perch, which still held a soft glow in the center which no doubt kept the ice aloft. Having nowhere to run, Ranma was bigsweating slightly as Nail laughed and wound up for another strike.  
  
Ranma's hand lashed out just as the whip did, and then he sighed in relief as he held the blade of the whip between two fingers just in front of his face. He had done similar tricks before, but a real blade was a little different than a bokken, and he was not accustomed to grabbing the steel edge on such an unwieldly weapon as a whip.  
  
Ranma yanked the weapon free from his opponent, then let it fall to the side, remarking as it fell that the lash disappeared into a small golden cylinder.  
  
"No! My maji!" Nail flew right after the small object, grabbing it desperately, and then floating in the air, radiating relief.  
  
The final piece of the frozen island started to crumble, and Ranma grabbed an icicle as the ice fell out from underneath his feet.  
  
"Hey, demon chick!"  
  
She turned around, just in time to have a razor-sharp icicle stabbed into her chest.  
  
  
  
Ranma landed lightly on the cold, damp ground, the sharp bits of ice biting into his thin shoes as he stood up and put more weight on them. He was covered with several other cuts, most from when the ice boulders had showered him with razor shards of frost.  
  
Nail impacted heavily onto a bed of frozen stalagmites a little ways away, her body spraying up more blood as she was further impaled.  
  
Ranma sighed a weary sigh, then started to walk away.  
  
Nearby, standing in front of a badly shivering Ataru, Happousai was gaping. "How... how could you son? You... you... you killed her!"  
  
Ranma grimaced. "Look, I don't what the hell you are or what you were doing with them, but she was a demon. She tried to kill me. I didn't like what I had to do, but all the same I had to do it." The truth was, Ranma was feeling deeply guilty simply because Nail had so strongly resembled a human girl. But then, she wasn't human, and logically, that made her no better than Rail, Bit, or Rotor.  
  
His musing were interrupted by the sound of ice shattering behind him.  
  
"Damn you! When I get another glacier up, I swear I'll-" The rest of her threat was cut off as Ranma landed a two-footed kick onto her face.  
  
"Don't any of you stupid monsters ever DIE?!" Ranma was seriously starting to get pissed now. He had gone through a lot of trouble to kill her!  
  
"No." Nail replied plainly, then formed a mace with her maji.  
  
"Hachi tobu ha semeru!" The blue blade of energy shot out from Ranma's sweeping arms, and Nail was cleanly sliced at the abdomen.  
  
"You killed her again! WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"  
  
"Would you shut up?! Why don't you go bother somebody else?!"  
  
Ranma fumed and watched as Nail's body was covered in a sheet of ice.  
  
He was pleasantly surprised, however, when a paper ward flew through the air and stuck onto her frozen form, and then started glowing.  
  
The ice shattered, and Nail screamed as her body was surrounded by a white/yellow corona of energy. Her entire body adapted the same glow before a vaguely circular symbol was spontaneously inscribed onto the ground beneath her.  
  
Her energy leaked together and ran upwards, into the sky, and suddenly she was gone.  
  
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! Now she's gone for good!!"  
  
Ataru, surprisingly, picked up a chunk of ice and quite purposefully dropped it on the old lecher's head.  
  
Ranma ignored them both. "Thanks Kaze. That was good timing."  
  
The white prist smiled. "It's no trouble. I had a run-in myself back there. Though whatever happened to the girl?"  
  
Ranma blinked, then remembered Yuka, who had actually just now timidly approached the scene.  
  
  
  
He ran up to her, checking her over for visible injuries. "Hey, sorry about all that, are you all right?"  
  
She blinked. He was sorry about that? That their picnic was attacked by a bunch of samurai zombies and some slut in a silk bathing suit who created glaciers in mid-air? He was SORRY?!  
  
"Uh, yeah, I'm all right." Well, it wasn't exactly his fault.  
  
Then an important question occured to her. "Hey, Ranma, does this sort of thing happen all the time?"  
  
Ranma blinked. "Define 'all the time'."  
  
Yuka's expression fell. "I see. Look, Ranma, maybe it's best if we... don't see each other again..."  
  
Ranma stared. "Uh, well......... huh?"  
  
Suddenly, Yuka had taken out a microphone, and was shouting to the heavens as dramatic, heartbreaking music poured out in the background. "Let's face it; you, a demon-hunting martial artist, and me, a normal schoolgirl in an abnormal district... IT WAS JUST NOT MEANT TO BE!!!"  
  
Everyone watching, including Happousai and Nabiki, sweatdropped heavily.  
  
Ranma scratched the back of his head. "Well... okay..."  
  
Suddenly she held her palm in front of his face. "NO!!! I can't stand tearful goodbyes!! Let us leave now, knowing that in each of our hearts, we hold a special place for each other... as friends......"  
  
Ranma was now actually in danger of falling over from the sheer weight of the droplet behind his ear. "Okay. Cool. Friends it is, then."  
  
"*Sniff* *Sniff* Goodbye, Ranma Saotome......... GOODBYE!!!" Tossing away the microphone, Yuka fled out of the park, emotionally wrecked and still hungry, as Ranma had eaten the entire lunch himself.  
  
  
  
The others watched her leave, and Nabiki snapped a photo as she ran past.  
  
"Ow!"  
  
Then they all turned as a rather disshelved Rayden came out of the foliage, rubbing his eye and holding a microphone in one hand. Behind him trudged a guy they had never seen before, but whom they presumed to be Rayden's mysterious foe, Cyrax Ayakana.  
  
Ranma smiled. "Hey Ray, what's up? Good fight?"  
  
Rayden sighed. "Eh, demon attack. They were invincible, you know? So it took a little longer than usual."  
  
Ranma blinked. "Huh? Kaze was here. How'd you deal with them?"  
  
___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
  
  
Bolt shifted uncomfortably as his carapaced body was pelted with small grains of concrete. Moving closer against the steel girders that formed their prison, along with several tons of concrete, he tried to get behind Rotor, who was slowly eating away at it all with his drills. It didn't help much that the drills had been made to tear through flesh in a particularly gory fashion, not shatter rock.  
  
*Rumble*  
  
"Oh no..."  
  
Bolt was smaller and more durable than Rotor, so he got the benefit of not being completely crushed to death by the sudden cave-in, instead being subjected to tremendous pain as his body tried to regenerate itself and push away Rotor's energy, which was trying to reform completely.  
  
It was going to be one of those nights.  
  
  
  
End Chapter 5  
  
*************************************************************************** ******* 


	6. Shuriken Storm

Nexus Chapter 6 a Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura crossover by Black Dragon revcoll@peoplepc.com http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/fanficlair/index.html  
  
Well, this is it. I don't own Takahashi's stuff. 'Nuff said.  
  
As for continuity, obviously this takes the Ranma 1/2 story from the beginning, but as far as UY goes, it's a little bit after Mendo shows up.  
  
Chapter 6 Shuriken Storm *************************************************************************** ******  
  
"Argh! Curse that wretched little rat!" The buxom, shapely woman cursed as she stretched her singed body, having just been forcibly ejected from one plane to another. Nail looked about, then realized that she had appeared somewhere in the northern wastes, as was evident from the total lack of anything but baked, hard-packed dirt and stone pillars. "Damn. At least now I know why the boy had to be killed. I'll have to think of something else next time." Nail hopped up and spread her metallic wings, gliding upward to look over the vast expanse of barren land. She spotted a large object moving on the ground, and then recognized it to be Bit's charred body, fending off the desert scavengers already trying to tear him apart. The brute could take care of himself. Nail flew a bit higher, and placed a hand above her eyes to shield them as she scanned the area. Where were Bolt and Rotor? Unless they had succeeded in killing the swordsman... she could only hope. It would be nice to walk away from this whole mess with SOMETHING. "If you're looking for anything other than stone, this is the wrong place to do it." Nail started suddenly, then whipped around, the edges of her wings held in front of her, ready to deflect and cut. The woman who had spoken laughed lightly, and Nail scowled even as she lowered her guard. "Rivet. What are you doing here?" The woman raised an eyebrow and smiled. She looked exactly like Nail in almost every respect, with the same figure and long purple hair. The only difference was her eyes, which were a dull red, and her own outfit, which matched her eyes, but was still like Nail's otherwise. "Oh, I wander about here and there. Sometimes I come to the wastes to check up on the tribes scattered around." Rivet looked away for a moment, watching a large, thin reptillian beast fly up to a huge stone pedestal and land. "Still whoring about with those blasted humans, are you? I should have expected such," Nail searched the surrounding area as she muttered. Rivet smiled. "You really underestimate the mortals. And they're so much fun. When was the last time you danced with that insecticoid freak that you hang around?" Nail bristled. "Bolt is strong! Not a weakling! You can keep your damn humans!" Nail snarled furiously. Rivet blinked, slightly taken aback. She had always known her sister to have a poor temper and a certain prejudice against humanity, but something seemed amiss. "What's wrong? Did that necromancer dump another assignment on you?" Rivet knew that Nail had long ago sold her services to the Great Lord somewhere west, because her special aura allowed her to enter other dimensions but maintain a kind of link with Chryslon. It was something she shared with very few others, Bolt being one of them. Nail scowled. "Something like that. Did you see Bolt while you were flying around?" Rivet shook her head. "Nope. Just the big ape down there. I heard Rail was passing through back to the Blood Hills a while ago. Something I ought to know?" Nail frowned. She really didn't want to tell her sister about the humans she had been assigned to kill; Rivet thought too highly of the wretched creatures already. But then again, so what? "Lord Doppler ordered us to kill three humans in a land reached through the third Nexus, a little ways south of here. Apparently some of the White Star taints that land." Rivet blinked, then lowered herself to sit on one of the columns that were scattered about. "White Star? I heard there was a certain land in the third Nexus... wasn't it sealed?" Nail shrugged. "It was unsealed several years ago. In any case, the humans turned out to be... more formidable... than we anticipated." Rivet's eyebrow shot up. "They beat you?" She asked bluntly. White Star priests were hardly common (the career path had a nasty tendency of ending with being hunted down and killed), and those that practiced their art were very formidable, but Rivet hardly thought that they could fend off three creatures that possessed Nail's unique resurrection abilities. Four, if Rotor had accompanied them. 'Not only us, but the little gnome that was stronger than all of us too,' she thought. Instead, she said "Well, the boy managed to beat me, and apparently Bit was no match for the priest. But Bolt will win. He's more than a match for that other fool, I'm sure of it!" Nail smiled nastily at the thought of her love returning to her, wielding the blood-soaked sword of his prey as a trophy. Rivet could care less about that; she was far more interested in a human that could slay Nail in a straight fight. "Tell me about this human. How did he get so powerful?" Nail snorted. "Why don't you track him down and ask him yourself? I've got work to do." Nail spread her wings wide, then took off into the dry air of the wastes, ignoring Bit's grunting from down below.  
  
Rivet watched her go, and rubbed her chin in fascination. She had always had a certain liking for humans; they simply seemed so much... more than the creatures that dark angels usually associated with. They built things, played games, and thought of clever ways to deal with the vicious creatures that shared their land. They knew how to have FUN. All demons did for fun was destroy and kill things. Not that she didn't enjoy the occasional bout of fire and steel, but she much preferred dancing. Now, to hear of a human that could slay a dark angel in combat? Surely, there had been tales of humans on Chryslon capable of such feats, but they were always embarking on dangerous and wondrous quests that more often than not lead to them getting butchered like sheep. She'd have to investigate this. Who knows, maybe things would get interesting? ___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
Rayden looked at Happousai as they walked down the streets of Nerima, wondering not for the first time what the little... thing was still doing alive. Ahead of him, Ranma, Ataru, Nabiki, Kaze, and Cyrax all chatted about their various encounters. "It was most unnerving the way they kept coming back to life. I've never dealt with anything like them." Cyrax scratched the back of his head anxiously. Ranma shrugged. "Well, if you stick around, we get those fairly often. Though most of 'em will die after you kill 'em once or twice..." Ranma muttered. "My Ranma, I didn't know this was a regular thing for you." Nabiki smirked as the pigtailed boy grumbled. "It 'aint like I asked for it or nothing! No matter what I do, these stupid things won't leave me alone!" Ranma stopped, startled, as Ataru suddenly turned around and held his shoulders. "At last..." he started softly, "a kindred spirit!" Ranma sweatdropped as Ataru hugged him. "Uh... hey, guys?" Everyone stopped, then turned toward Rayden. The swordsman scratched the back of his head for a moment, then pointed down. "What is he, and what is he doing here?" The others all looked at Happousai as if noticing his presence for the first time. Happousai waved at them. Ranma stepped on his head. "Yeah, what ARE you doing here?" He asked irritably, right before he was smashed into the air, courtesy of Happousai's pipe. The others sweatdropped as they watched Ranma spiral into the air, then come crashing down onto the sidewalk. Kaze turned to the perverted old man, and his eyes narrowed. Apparently the ancient creature was more than he seemed. "Look now, why are you following us?" "Me following you?" Happousai asked, annoyed. "I'm not following you! I'm going to the Tendo Dojo!" "No," Rayden shot back, "WE'RE going to the Tendo Dojo!" "No you're not! I am!" "We are!" Kaze and Nabiki sweatdropped as they watched the little man continue arguing with the giant man, until Ranma finally punted the little man into a brick wall across the street. "That HURT, you little freak!" Ranma growled, then started wiping dust and debris off of his pants. Happousai pulled himself out of the indentation he made in the wall, then spit out pieces of brick before turning to Ranma angrily. "Hey! Whadya do that for?!" Ranma glared back. "Why are you going to the Tendo Dojo anyway?" "Yeah, do you know my dad?" Nabiki was a bit curious why this little man, who was apparently involved in the destruction of the local park, would be heading for her house. Happousai crossed his little arms across his chest and sighed deeply. "I'm merely visiting an old student of mine, Soun Tendo." Nabiki frowned. "Daddy was a student of YOURS?" "That's right, cutie!" The ancient martial arts master grinned lecherously, then vaulted for her chest. Nabiki, who was already cringing from when he leapt at her, and Cyrax both blinked as the old lecher smacked into some sort of thin blue energy field. Nabiki glanced curiously at Kaze as he held his hand out next to her, knowing that he was somehow responsible for it. Ranma didn't seem surprised at all, and plucked Happousai off of the strange barrier. "What were you doing with that girl then? The one with wings?" "Yeah! Does she have a sister?" Rayden shoved Ataru away when the younger lecher tried to poke his head in. Happousai shrugged. "They said if I helped them, they'd give me panties!" ".........................................." the others responded. Except for Ataru. "Hey man, how can I get in on this?" Rayden hit him over the head out of reflex. Happousai sighed. "Anyway, that's all done with now. I must really be seeing my students!" Cackling with glee, the little old pervert took off in the direction of the Tendo Dojo.  
  
Ranma stared after him for a bit, then turned toward Kaze. "Hey, should we do something? I mean, that little freak's no pushover..." Kaze frowned. "I sensed some malevolence from him, though nothing really dangerous. Mostly just... lust. Not particularly directed, but he has a very dissolute character." Kaze glanced over at Ataru. "Though I may be getting a false positive from Master Moroboshi; he hasn't taken his eyes off Nabiki's chest for a while now." Nabiki took some time out from being totally confused as to what Kaze was talking about to slap Ataru (not that it even fazed him; he'd been struck far harder without breaking his concentration). Cyrax scratched his head, then shrugged. "Well, it's been... interesting meeting you once again, Shikodan. I will train further, and hopefully our next match won't be so one-sided." The ninja smiled good-naturedly, and Rayden grinned back. "Don't kid yourself man, you did good. Take care." The ninja nodded at his former opponent, then leapt up onto the rooftops, jumping from building to building. Ranma watched the man in black leave, then turned to his friend. "He really did that well?" Rayden snorted. "No, not really. He's fast though, I'll give him that. I'm hungry." Ranma nodded as Ataru and Nabiki blinked. "Yeah, we'd better get home anyway. There's no telling what that little freak'll do." ___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
Ranma, Rayden, Kaze, and Ataru all sat on one side of the dining room table, sweatdropping as they kept looking back and forth between Happousai, sitting serenely on a cushion on one end of the table and smoking his pipe, and Soun and Genma, who were trembling in fear on the other end of the table in with their heads bowed. Across from them, Nabiki propped her head up with her elbow on the table and gave a half-lidded stare to her dad, while Kasumi served tea. "And then they blew up the mouth of the cave with dynamite! Ha ha ha! To think, you fools actually had the guts to try something like that!" Happousai cackled, and then took a drag from his pipe. "Ah, the bittersweet memories." "Master! Forgive us!" "Mercy, Master!" Genma and Soun continued blubbering on the ground. Happousai shook his head, then hopped up onto the table. "Don't worry yourselves boys, I'm not here for revenge. But 20 years of being stuck in that cave got me thinking. I'm not getting any younger-" "Well DUH," Ranma muttered under his breath. "-and it's about time I chose one of you deadbeats as the heir to the school." Genma and Souns' eyes started twitching. Then Genma blinked, as an idea broke through the cobwebs of his mind. Ranma wasn't sure why Genma was coming over to his side of the table until he felt one of his father's hands clap him on the shoulder. "The boy should do nicely! Here you are Master!" Ranma stared at his father. "What's gotten into you, Pop?" Happousai hopped over to look Ranma up and down, scratching his chin in thought. "Not bad, not bad." Then the ancient martial artist blinked. "He's your son, Genma?" Genma nodded proudly. "Not much resemblance, is there?" Happousai speculated. "Thank Kami," Ranma muttered, not under his breath this time. Genma growled and hit his son over the head. "Show some respect, you foolish boy!" Kaze took a sip of tea as Ranma planted a foot in Genma's stomach. "We've been considering the possibility that Master Ranma is adopted. Or at least were. Now we're just considering whether or not Saotome is actually the father. There's even a betting pool, if you're interested." Genma blinked, then pulled himself off the floor. "What? Nonsense!" Rayden looked at him dubiously. "I don't know man. Nodoka bet against you. That's a bad sign." Before Genma could stutter out a response, Happousai cleared his throat. "Be that as it may, Ranma is my new disciple!" Ranma snorted, then stood up, stretching as he did so. "I don't think so gramps. You're pretty tough for a geezer, but I 'aint training under no pervert, you got that?" He turned around to leave, and his exit was speeded very suddenly by the application of a pipe to his back. "Whoa. Old man's got moves!" Ataru was surprised that a little tap like that could throw someone through a wall so easily. Happousai snorted and tapped his pipe on his arm. "Well, he's got talent, but he needs a few lessons in manners." *Boot* *Crash!* Ranma lowered his leg and snarled. "How's that for 'manners' you freak!" Ranma leapt after him, and the house shook slightly as the fight escalated quickly. Rayden glanced over to Kaze. "Should we do something?" Kaze grimaced. "I'm not sure..." *Crash* "Ow! That hurt, you little perve!" *Smash* *Pow* "You snot-nosed little punk! I'll get you for that!" Soun shook his head. "The poor boy has no idea what he's getting into. To undergo such rigors at such a young age! Ah Ranma, thank you for sacrificing yourself for us!" Genma nodded in agreement. "This training will finally make a man out of that worthless son of mine. I've really been going too easy on him. Now he will know true pain!" Rayden looked once again over to Kaze. "NOW can we do something?" Kaze nodded, and they both stood up. *Wham!* *Wham!* Soun and Genma were both smashed into the floor, and Rayden followed Kaze outside to where the battle was taking place. Nabiki shook her head. "Oh Daddy. What's the big deal, anyway? He's just an old man, even if he does seem pretty limber for his age." Ataru snorted. "Ha! Bowing for an old crone like that! You two should be ashamed of yourselves!" Genma grimaced as he and Soun got up. "You can be forgiven for that comment boy, because you're young, and from what I hear, none too bright either. The Master is the most evil, perverted being that ever existed!" "Oh my! Is that true father?" Kasumi was worried. Should she set up the other guest room or not? Soun nodded miserably. "It's true. Master Happousai's lechery was the only thing that exceeded his greed!" Nabiki smirked at Ataru. "Well, looks like you have some competition, Moroboshi." The young pervert scoffed. "Please! Unless he can turn into a cute little guy who breathes fire, I think I can handle him." He took a sip of tea, and smacked his lips. "Wow! This is good!" Kasumi smiled at him and bowed her head slightly. "Why thank you Ataru!" Incidentally, this gave Ataru a perfect view of her cleavage, which was normally well-hidden within the housedress. He made no effort to hide his leer, at least until something impacted with the back of his head at high speed. "I thought I told you to knock off the perverted stuff!" Ranma growled as he tossed another rock up in the air, then caught it as it came down, clearly as a warning. "Hey! I didn't touch nothing!" Ataru cried back, rubbing his sore face. "And aren't you in the middle of a fight or something?" Happousai landed on Ranma's head and chuckled. "Come on, let the boy have his fun!" Then the ancient martial artist took out a bra from his gi (much to the surprise of everyone but Genma and Soun) and started snuggling it. Nabiki blinked. "Hey, wait a minute..." She looked down for a moment, and her eyes bulged. "Hey! That's mine! How did you get that?!" Happousai winked at her, much to her stomach's displeasure. "Well now, that is a-" *Pow* *Tha-wack!* "I am SO sick of that line," Ranma muttered, and then jumped outside to where he kicked the ancient lecher.  
  
Happousai skidded across the ground, to stop at the edge of the koi pond and hop back up again. "Man, you just don't know when to lay down and retire, do you?" Ranma's left eye twitched violently. Happousai glared at him, then sighed and dusted off his hands. "Well my boy, I must admit, I haven't had a fight like this in a long time. It's been fun but I'm tired of playing around." "Bring it on gramps!" Ranma shouted. "I eat freaks like you for breakfast!" "Come on man! Kick his ass!" Rayden cheered from the sidelines, while Kaze merely watched and speculated. Ranma's twitch returned when Happousai took out the bra once again and started fondling it. "Would you STOP MESSING AROUND?!?! Screaming thunder missile!" Ranma glowed blue, and the projectile shot out like a rocket (though at half its normal strength; Ranma wasn't trying to kill anybody) and struck the ground hard, spraying rock, dirt, electric arcs into the air in a small cloud. Ranma peered into the dust cloud, wondering if he should have toned down the power on his attack a bit more. The freak was just an old man after all (though Ranma wouldn't have exactly grieved if he'd accidentally killed the little creep). "Ha ha! A ki blast! Training you will be more fun than I thought!" Happousai jumped down from the tree and rubbed his hands in anticipation. "You're ALMOST perfect. I'm just going to have to teach you some discipline!" "I'll show you discipline!" Ranma growled, and started concentrating, gathering his ki. Happousai chuckled, still holding his bra. "Oh really?" All of a sudden energy shot up around him, forming a massive aura that quickly formed in the shape of his body. Happousai grinned, the subtle motions of his lips mirrored perfectly by the monstrous ki that surrounded him. Ranma blinked, suddenly a bit unsure of himself. Then he realized he was frozen in place. 'What? How... ah! It must be one of those illusions that breaks your aura!' Ranma grit his teeth, even as the cackling form reared back a fist. 'All I have to do is concentrate on moving...' Ranma let go of his ki senses, and grunted slightly as his motion was suddenly restored. He punched at Happousai, but the ancient master simply moved to the side, dodging easily. "Well, you can still move? Today is just full of surprises!" Ranma grinned and launched a kick that Happousai jumped over. "Ha! I'm not afraid of any stupid illusion!" "What illusion?" Ranma only had time to blink at the response before the fist of the apparition slammed into him, throwing him into the ground hard enough to leave an impact crater. Spitting out some grass, Ranma rose unsteadily, only to get blasted into the ground by a ball of ki. "Urgh! Da-Damn it..." Ranma recovered quickly enough, having taken worse strikes before. Strikes meant to kill. But that old guy sure packed a punch! Launching himself back at the ancient lecher, Ranma launched kick after swift kick, each one being deftly avoided, before the pigtailed boy was slapped out of the air by Happousai's aura. "Ha ha ha! Whatsa matter junior? Don't tell me you're tired already!" Happousai once again brought his hands forward, and launched an even bigger ki blast before Ranma could recover, hitting the young martial artist dead-center. Ranma grunted and lifted himself unsteadily to his feet, finally coming to the realization that the tiny old man had been holding back quite a bit in their last engagement. Happousai chuckled, sensing Ranma's submission to his inevitable loss (or as close as Ranma ever got to submission, anyway). "Well kiddo, it's about time we wrapped this up!" Happousai reared back his fist, and his aura flashed around him, boring into Ranma with its fierce, empty gaze. Ranma took a sudden step back at the sight, and then groaned and clutched his side in pain, making a feeble attempt at a block with one arm. "Oh Darling! Where are you?" The voice cut through the tension of the moment like a hot knife, and Happousai blinked and looked up, Ranma temporarily forgotten. Then he saw the source of the voice, and Ranma was permanently forgotten. "Darling? Are you down there?" Lum called down toward the Tendo house, having seen the explosions from the air. She was surprised when she saw that Ataru wasn't involved with the explosions, though there was still a good chance he was around. "Sweet-O!!" Happousai shouted, and shot into the air like a Chinese rocket. *Glomp!* Lum screamed as something impacted her chest lightly at high speed, and then screamed again once she felt the sensation of her breasts being fondled. Of course, this elicited the normal reflexive defense action. *Zak!* *Zak!* *Zak!* *Zak!* *Zak!* *Zak!* *Zak!* *Zak!* Electricity swam around the young oni in thick ribbons, leaving a thoroughly scorched old man careening toward the ground. *Splat!* Ranma stared at the display, and a sweatdrop rolled down his head. "Damn. Remind me to never mess with HER." Behind him, Rayden and Kaze nodded their heads mutely. To everyone's surprise, Happousai hopped up after a moment, and shook off the soot that covered him. "Whoa! What a rush!" He looked up at Lum, and then grinned lecherously, much to her growing horror. "What a nice bra you have! Let me see it up close!" "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!! Darling! Help me!" Ranma and the other hadn't lost their sweatdrops yet, so when Nabiki yelled "Don't touch me, you pervert!", they fell over instead. Ranma sighed as he got up with his friends, fairly ignoring the flashes of lightning and the crash of furniture. "Rayden, rock please." His friend nodded, and grabbed onto the edge of a small boulder jutting out from the ground before tearing it out through the layers of hard- packed dirt and handing it to Ranma.  
  
*Zak!* *Zak!* *Zak!* *Wham!* Happousai hit the ground again, coughed up some smoke, then leapt away from another volley of lightning bolts, his tiger-striped prize fluttering in the wind of his passing. "Ha ha ha! You can't catch me!" Happousai stuck out his tongue at the horned girl, who was covering her chest with one arm while hurling lightning bolts with the other. "Hey look! An attractive female streaker!" Happousai screeched to a halt at Ranma's voice. "What?! Where?!" *Crash!!* Ranma dusted off his hands after crushing the ancient pervert with his boulder, and Lum quickly snatched away her top, which was sticking out from under the edge. Ranma shook his head sadly, staring at the twitching hand beneath the large rock. "Now that's just pathetic. Who would be dumb enough to fall for that?" His question was answered when he was nearly bowled over by Ataru. "Where? I don't see her! Where is she?" Ranma stared for a bit, then turned to Lum. "Should I get another rock?" Lum shook her head. "No, I'll take care of it." Ranma nodded and left, ignoring Ataru's cry of surprise and panicked shout. ___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
Night fell, and all was silent around the Tendo compound. The Moroboshi house was a totally different story, but then, this really isn't about Ataru. Keeping to the shadows, a lone figure moved silently across the grounds of the Tendo's backyard, blending into the night perfectly, and moving with such grace and skill that it seemed to not even disturb the air around it. Reaching the side of the house, a hand, black with the shadows of night, gently reached out and felt the walls of the structure, testing the aged wooden slats carefully before grabbing hold with a grip that was iron solid but did not cause so much as a light groan as the figure hoisted itself onto the wall and swiftly climbed upward like a spider, quickly coming to the window of the correct room. A smirk formed behind a blue- black mask as it saw that the window was already open. How convenient! The figure flipped through the open window, landing lightly without a sound, and quickly surveyed the interior. Four bed rolls, one of them empty. It once again scanned the room, looking for any obvious clue as to where the fourth occupant was. Seeing nothing, it moved up and looked over the bed rolls. The first was obviously not its target, the man that was snoring loudly was too old and simply didn't match the faded memories that indicated which man was the target. The figure frowned for a moment as the man's identity hit. It debated removing this one too, but quickly decided against it. If that one had to die, he would at least know what it was that killed him. Moving past the empty bed roll, the stealthy figure looked over the next two. One lump was slightly bigger than the other, and both heads that stuck out from underneath the sheets had dark hair. That didn't help at all. The intruder frowned from underneath the mask as it caught sight of the distinctive weapon of the target, the large bejeweled blade, lying between the two bed rolls. Cursing mentally, the figure decided there was no other way to do it. Both had to be killed. Moving a hand to its leg, it withdrew a dagger from its oiled sheath, and then carefully moved back the covers a bit to reveal the victim's neck, his pigtail brushing lightly against it. The blade was raised, and the figure gripped the hilt with both hands while pointing the dagger straight down over Ranma's throat. *Ahem!* "Urk!" The figure started in surprise, then plunged the weapon down, intent on finishing its mission regardless of discovery. Then it cried out in surprise as the intended victim rolled into it at the very last second, causing the dagger to sink deeply into the floorboards and for the dark assassin to fall over on top of him. "Huh? Whazzat?" Ranma awoke groggily, and was vaguely aware of somebody on top of him scrambling to get off. Kaze stared stonily at the assassin, who was now goggling at him from across the room. Obviously this one had been trained as a ninja, as he had been totally unable to see or hear anything, even though he knew what to look and listen for. Luckily for Kaze, he possessed other senses that no ninja was capable of thwarting. The ninja just stared frantically at Kaze, wondering how in the hell it had missed seeing a fairly tall guy in the corner wearing pure white. Then the priest made a gesture with his hand, and the light switch flipped on. Ranma blinked his eyes rapidly at the sudden flood of light, and then stared at the black-cloaked figure that stood in the glare of the lights, frozen like a deer in headlights. It was obviously female, with the way that the skintight black suit hugged her curves and ample chest, and she had long black hair that was tied mid-back into a ponytail. She looked to be about his age, around 16. It was her state of dress that alarmed Kaze, as it reminded him distinctly of Cyrax, whom he had met earlier that day. Instead of his elaborate cloak and baggy tunic, which was no doubt better for holding a multitude of weapons, this one's costume was a tight body suit that ended mid-thigh. She wore similar boots, though again they were tighter and smaller, emphasizing stealth and mobility. It was her gauntlets though, that confirmed it. Gauntlets with throwing knives sticking into them for quick access, and with the crest of the Hitokage, a viper's head reared back for a strike, carved into the wrist guard. 'Cyrax sent an assassin? But it doesn't make sense... and why would he not come himself?' "I suggest you tell me just who you are and who exactly you came here to kill, miss." Kaze couldn't see the frown from beneath the dark cloth mask that covered the young woman's face and nose, but he could sense frustration and panic beneath a wall of ice-cold determination. "It's unfortunate you had to get in my way. Had you just stayed out of this, I could have just eliminated my target and left. Now you'll have to go too!" With a flick of her wrist, she had taken out two throwing knives, and thrown them in an arc at Kaze. Kaze made a gesture with his hand, and both knives were suddenly knocked away harmlessly onto the floor. He could have erected a shield, but minor telekinesis was much more energy-efficient. The girl goggled, and then whipped around to throw a knife at Ranma, probably hoping to eliminate the target and then escape. Ranma caught the knife between two fingers, and yawned sluggishly. The ninja's eye twitched, and she growled slightly as Ranma casually tossed away the blade and stood up. "So, what's your problem anyway?" The girl looked back to Kaze, then again at Ranma. "I'm here for a man named Shikodan. Rayden Shikodan! Is that you?" Ranma blinked, then shook his head and walked over to the final bed roll and kicked it. "Yo, Ray! Get up! Someone's here to kill you!" The lump stirred, then rolled over. "Tell 'em to come back ta'morra... kill me then... *Snore*" Ranma shook his head and kicked his friend again. "Hey man, she's serious! Get up!" Rayden groaned, and started to struggle out from under his blanket. Ranma turned back to the girl, who was staring blankly at him. "So, why'd you wanna kill him again?" The young ninja blinked, then snarled at the figure that stood up irritably, clothed in a white t-shirt and a pair of boxers. With a flick of her wrist, a throwing knife was hurled straight at her target's heart. *Thwick* She grinned as the knife hit its target, and the man she was there to kill shouted out in surprise. "Ow!! Hey! That hurt!" Rayden yanked the knife out of his chest and threw it on the floor, then advanced on the girl, growling and clenching his fists. Her grin dissolved very quickly. She reached for the ninja-toh attached to her thigh, only to blink in surprise as her hand found only the empty sheath of the weapon. Glancing to her left, she realized that Ranma was holding it, idly thumbing the edge of the blade as he watched his friend advance. It was about then that she realized she was in a brightly lit room, surrounded by people whom she had already tried to kill, and failed. She sweatdropped as Rayden stepped up to her. "So, just who are you?" He cracked his knuckles for emphasis, and Rayden discarded the girl's weapon before crossing his arms over his chest. Instead of answering, she made a break for the window. *Trip* *Thud!* She didn't make it very far. Ranma retracted his foot and leaned over her before yanking off her mask. He frowned into the pretty face that glared back up at him, then shook his head. "I don't remember her. Ray?" The larger man shook his head. "Your guess is as good as mine." The girl snarled at him. "It figures you don't remember me! You'll pay for what you've done!" She lashed out with a kick at Rayden, which Ranma deftly deflected with his own foot, before using it to flip the girl over onto her stomach. Kaze shook his head, then leaned down next to the groaning ninja. "Tell me, are you a relative of Master Ayakana?" Within moments, Kaze could tell it was the truth from the torrent of emotions within the girl, but he waited for her to confirm it herself for his companions' benefit. "Ayakana? You mean that guy with the eye patch?" Ranma asked, scratching his head. Rayden nodded. "Yeah. You heard the whole story, right? Remember that whole mess with the ninja clan?" The girl got up slowly, eyeing her former victims warily (still being a bit unnerved by how quickly the situation spiraled out of her control). "My name is Eiko Ayakana. Cyrax is my brother." Kaze nodded. "I thought so. And did he order Master Shikodan's assassination?" Eiko snarled. "No! It was not him! Nobody 'ordered' it! I'm here to kill Shikodan for myself!" With that last shout, she jumped away to the dagger still embedded in the floorboards. Only to be caught in mid-leap by Ranma, who shoved her back away from her discarded weapons. "Would you cut that out?" Ranma frowned at her. "Why do you want to kill Rayden anyway?" "For what he did to my brother!" Eiko shouted, "For the loss Cyrax suffered! For the wound that will never heal!" Tears collected in her eyes, and she blinked them away. "I know Cyrax forgave you! I know he bears no grudge! But I will avenge him!" She clenched a fist before her, her fiery gaze burning into Rayden. "Hey now, what's all the noise?" Genma grumbled, finally roused from his sleep. The three demon hunters all looked at each other, ignoring him. "Sounds good to me," Rayden said. "Checks out," muttered Ranma. "I suppose it's as good a reason as any," surmised Kaze. Eiko blinked. "Huh?" Rayden turned to her. "Look, you can try and kill me all you want, but could you please do it later? We've all had a hard day and we're trying to sleep." He spared a glance at Genma. "Well, most of us have had a hard day." Eiko blinked again. "Uh... okay..." "Great! Good night!" Ranma and Rayden fell onto their bed rolls, apparently deeming the whole matter concluded for now. Kaze pulled the dagger from the floor, and then handed it to Eiko, along with all the other weapons she had drawn since she entered, including the knife still wet with Rayden's blood. Eiko blinked some more. "Er... thank you..." Kaze nodded. "You're welcome. I suggest you be on your way now. Have a good night." Confused, but finally free to leave, Eiko swiftly sheathed all her blades and leapt out the window. Genma witnessed all of this, though it didn't leave him with any better clue as to what was going on. "Who was that girl?" "That was Eiko Ayakana," Ranma stopped muttering to yawn, then shifted the covers over himself. "She was just here to kill Rayden, but we stopped her." Genma blinked, his eyes wide. "Did you say Eiko? Ayakana? Of that Hitokage clan?" Ranma frown, and sat up. "I didn't say Hitokage, but yeah. Why?" Genma sweatdropped and chuckled. If the boy didn't know, then he wasn't in trouble yet. "Oh, just curious." Ranma frowned more deeply, then shrugged. "Hey, Kaze! Wasn't that whole mess with the ninja Pop's fault anyway?" "Yes, I believe it was." Ranma nodded, and stood up. ___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
Eiko paced back and forth along a narrow fence just a few meters away from the Tendo Dojo, contemplating her attack. On the one hand, she failed, and lost any advantage she had in her target not expecting her or knowing anything about her. On the other hand, she was still alive, and her enemies were not actively working against her. She frowned at that. Come to think of it, her victim had actually given her permission to hunt him down, and his friends had agreed to it. Were they used to this sort of thing? But that was ridiculous. Either way, they were treating it far too casually for her tastes. While that would make Rayden's inevitable demise that much easier, it was rather irritating to not be taken seriously. *Crash!* Eiko's musing was interrupted by the sound of a large object being hit through a window (a window that Eiko had closed on her way out), and she looked up to see a man-sized object in white fly off into the night sky. "Hmph. Whatever." Turning her back on the strange sight, she started running along the fence to where she was camping out during her stay in Nerima. "Just wait, Shikodan. You'll regret not finishing me off when you had the chance! You'll rue the day you and your friends ever heard the name-" "Sweeto!" "-Sweeto! Er... wait, what-GYAAAA!!!" ___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
The next morning went without notable incident, with the exception that Akane wanted to know what all the noise last night was about. They had told her. Ranma shook his head as he walked to school alongside Ataru, Lum, and Akane, musing over the latter's reaction to last night's attack. What was the big deal? Just because a trained assassin broke into the house, tried to kill someone, and then promised to hunt down its target in the future wasn't cause for that much alarm. Surely, the Tendos have had such a thing happen before, right? In Ranma's opinion, an assassination attempt was hardly even noteworthy unless the assassin had at least one extra pair of appendages. Then it bore some investigation. "And apparently this girl is going to come back to attack again! Can you believe this?" Akane shouted. Ranma frowned. Hadn't she stopped talking about that yet? Ataru rolled his eyes. "Yes. What's the big deal?" "What's the big deal?!" Akane shouted incredulously, "She broke into our house! She tried to kill someone!" "So what?" Ataru muttered, "At least she was human." "See?!" Ranma cut in, "That's what I said! But she just won't shut up about it!" Akane seethed as Ataru nodded in understanding (of Ranma's apathy, not Akane's frustration), and Lum floated along lazily next to them. "Akane! Up ahead!" Lum called down, and Akane growled at the sight of the various jocks lined up, waiting for their turn to attack. Akane growled and launched herself forward, totally forgetting about her earlier difficulties. Ranma and the others merely walked right through, teenagers in sports gear swerving about them. "So c'mon, was she hot?" Ataru grinned at Ranma, and then cleverly moved around to the other side of him, to put the martial artist in-between him and the frowning Lum. Ranma blinked, taking a moment to knock away a hockey player that was smashed toward them. "What do you mean? Was who hot?" "Ya' know, the ninja! Was she a babe?" Lum twitched slightly. "Darling..." "What? What? I'm just asking!" Ataru smiled nervously, then turned back to Ranma, who rolled his eyes. "Incoming!" Ranma grabbed the airborne soccer player out of the air, then tossed him back at Akane, who got bowled over and dogpiled within moments from the unexpected assault. Ranma turned toward Ataru. "If you really want to know, she's right over there." Ataru blinked as Ranma pointed behind him, and then turned to see Kuno step out from under a tree. Above him, Ataru could just barely see a bit of foot on a branch mostly hidden by shadows, and couldn't detect anything else. "Are you sure?" "Yeah, she's hard to see, but she aint invisible." Ranma frowned as he saw a bunch of guys arguing over the prone form of Akane. Then he turned to Kuno. "Ah, but it be the Supreme Being's greatest gift upon me to brighten my presence today with your loveliness, Miss Lum. No doubt you are here to shower me with your affections and declare that you have thrown off the chains of the cowardly and lecherous sorcerer, Ataru Moroboshi!" Ataru looked at Ranma and circled a finger around his ear. Ranma nodded in agreement. "Hey! Stop saying things like that about my darling!" Lum shouted. It had always seemed to her that Kuno was a lot like Mendo. Well, Mendo was a lot smarter, less violent, nicer, and generally all-around more tolerable, but they were both rich and had little to no compunctions about pursuing several girls at once. Which made them practically the same person in her mind. Kuno frowned. "I see you are still under his spell, my fair space princess! But fear not! For I shall rescue you from his vile clutches, and then you may finally proclaim your love for me without hindrance!" Lum shook her head tiredly. Ranma sweatdropped. "Yo, man, are you okay? You never really struck me as bright before, but..." "Ah! And if it isn't another of the cowardly clan of sorcerers! I have heard of your relation to this foul creature, Saotome, and know that I intend to conquer you both!" "Yeah. Right. Okay. Say, Kuno, I think Akane is down." Ranma pointed over to where the boys were fighting each other over the unconscious form of Akane. Kuno looked shocked. "My fierce tigress! You have fallen! Fear not, for I will avenge you!" Kuno rushed off and began attacking the various fighters. Ranma and Lum shook their heads at the pathetic sight. "Ya' know, it's a sad sight to see someone that loony have enough power to cut down trees with a wooden stick." Lum nodded in agreement. "Hey! She is up here! And she IS a babe!" Lum and Ranma blinked, and then turned to the sound of struggling within the tree. "Hey babe, wanna go out sometime?!" "Get OFF of me, you pervert!!" There was more struggling, and Ataru fell off of his branch before scrambling away, just before a line of throwing knives embedded themselves in the ground where he had fallen. Ataru got up and grinned. "She's certainly energetic, eh?" *Crackle* "Darlingggggg..." "Uh... goodbye!" Ataru made a break for the school building, an enraged, flying oni trailing behind him. Ranma ignored his cousin's departure and turned back toward Eiko, who was fuming as she pulled her weapons from the ground. "So, why are you here?" "-Stupid freaking perverts, coming out of nowhere and just latching on whenever, and... huh?" "I said, why are you here?" Ranma repeated. Eiko blinked, and then straightened, trying to look as dignified as possible for someone who had just been sexually attacked. "I am here to find that scum, Shikodan. Has he already arrived?" Ranma frowned slightly. "Rayden's 19. He doesn't go to school." 'Not that he did when he was younger,' Ranma added mentally. "Oh. Well, can you tell me where I can find him?" Eiko asked calmly. Ranma stared at her for a moment, then ran a hand through his hair. "Look, if you insist on killing my friend, I'm afraid you're going to have to do it without my help." The shapely ninja considered this for a moment, then sighed. "I suppose you're right. You seem like an okay guy. Why are you friends with that monster?" Ranma sighed. "Look, you have your problem with Rayden, and I can understand that. But I've known him longer, and I know what kind of guy he is. Ray wouldn't hurt a fly." Ranma stopped, then sweatdropped slightly as he thought that over. "Well, okay, he wouldn't hesitate to kill a fly, but he's not a psychotic murderer." Ranma stopped again, and rubbed his chin in thought. "Well, I mean, he's never killed any people. As far as I know, your brother is the closest he's gotten." Ranma finished rather lamely, remembering all the times Rayden charged into a group of monsters and nearly gotten himself killed. Eiko snorted and jumped away, declining to reply. Ranma shrugged and headed for the school, idly wondering if Akane was going to be okay. A glance in that direction revealed that Kuno was standing over her and declaring that he would protect her with his life. She'd be fine. ___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
By the time Ranma sat down in class, Ataru was already a smoking heap slumped down in his desk, with Lum sitting across his desk, her legs crossed and arms folded condescendingly. He had to feel a little sorry for Ataru. Sure, the guy was an idiot and a lecher, but ultimately he was harmless. Yet he had the whole world stacked against him regardless. Plus he had gotten married by accident, which was something Ranma could personally sympathize with. The teacher started taking roll, and then suddenly stopped as he realized that several boys were present that normally weren't. The "horde o' hentai", as those with the peculiar desire to pursue dating Akane Tendo were called, were beaten to a pulp every day, and so they naturally never attended their first period class. Of course, being absent for the first hour every day was hardly the way toward an outstanding school record, but Furinkan had enough problems without flunking half the sophomore class, so those that participated in Tatewaki's little 'contest' had been given unofficial special exemption from normal rules regarding truancy. Eventually, this had led to just about everyone ditching first period on a whim, though the horde 'o hentai was still the only group to never show up at all. By the time second period rolled around, they had usually regained consciousness, and they could attend their normal classes as usual. For those boys to walk into their first class (albeit late; many of them had forgotten where their first class was) was akin to Ataru walking past a strip club without even noticing (in other words, not particularly remarkable, but it would never happen). "Uh... may I ask what's going on? Is Miss Tendo sick today?" It seemed likely. She wasn't here, after all. One student, dressed in a wrestling uniform, shot up immediately. "She's not sick! I defeated her in combat, finally! At last, I'll get to date Akane!" Another one leapt to his feet, this one clothed in hockey gear. "The hell you did! I knocked her out!" "But I was pinning her down! You just got in a quick shot, you cheater!" A rather beat-up, but still conscious, soccer player stood. "Why should you get credit for it? I'm the one that hit her first! I inflicted the most damage!" "Only because Saotome threw you! I gave her the knockout hit!" A baseball player stood up straight, though he didn't stand. "Hey, maybe Saotome should get her, since he really caused the most damage and we all know he's the only one that could stand up to her in a straight fight?" The baseball player blinked as all of the arguing boys and almost all of the class's girls turned to glare at him. Then he realized that Ranma was glaring at him too, and decided that maybe he should go hide under a rock. Forever.  
  
The teacher, seeing a break in the argument that had obviously been leading to a brawl, cleared his throat. "If you're all quite finished, class is now in session. Those of you in the sports gear, I hope you realize that I won't be going any easier on you just because you've never been here before." He immediately turned to the board, and started writing sentences. "Hey man, what class is this, anyway?" The soccer player asked Mendo, as the richest boy in school also had a reputation for being the smartest. "It's English, dolt!" Mendo hissed back, then returned to his book. "I'm taking English this year?" "Aw, man! I suck at English!" "I missed out on a trip to Sakura's office for this?" Ranma sighed as he watched the teacher start banging his head on the wall. Still three hours until lunch... ___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
Eiko stalked across the streets of Nerima, no longer making any effort to hide herself as she jumped from roof to roof and ran along fences, and in turn catching quite a few eyes, especially from the men that happened to look up at the right time. She was trying to find her prey, of course, but had no idea where to look. She had already tried trailing the priest, but found herself totally unable to hide from him at any distance, and didn't have enough nerve to ask him for help in killing his friend. So here she was, running around at random, just hoping to- "Hello pretty lad-" *Thwack!* Eiko reflexively slapped the incoming object out of the air, sending it tumbling into the grass, unconscious. Her eye twitched as she saw it was a just a little boy in a strange, tiger-striped diaper, and cursed herself for being so paranoid just because she had spent half the night being groped by a tiny old person. Then she noticed that the little kid had a horn, and revised her opinion. Besides, she decided, as she kicked the young alien away into the bushes, she could have sworn he was flying before she hit him. Nerima had enough weirdos as it was. 'Now where was I? Oh yeah!' So here she was, running around at random, just hoping to run into- *Thud* "Oops, sorry about that." Eiko backed away from the brick wall... er, person she had walked into, and laughed lightly, rubbing her nose. "No, no, I'm sorry! I wasn't watching where I was..." then she realized who she was talking to. "YOU!!!" She pointed at Rayden. "Me?" "Yes, YOU!!!" "What about me?" "................." Eiko stood silent, her finger still pointed at Rayden, who stared at her, confused. All of a sudden, a light of understanding appeared in his eyes. "Ah, I get it. You have to kill me, right?" Eiko nodded, and then pulled out a kodachi from a sheath strapped to her thigh. "Yeah! You'll die for what you've done!" Rayden nodded. "Right, right. Well, let's get to it, shall we?" He stretched mightily, then slowly unsheathed the huge long sword on his back. Eiko couldn't help but think there was something terribly wrong with this situation, but paid it little heed as her opponent turned slightly away from her, his naked blade resting easily on his shoulder. It was an invitation to attack. So she took it. ___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
Kaze's head perked up suddenly, and the man across the table from him blinked in surprise. "You okay there, fella?" Kaze stared off into the distance. "I sense a great disturbance in the force." The man blinked. "Er... what do you mean?" Kaze turned back to him. "Someone nearby is getting his or her ass beaten. It is none of our concern." The man nodded uncertainly, then cleared his throat. "Like I was saying, land in the middle of the district isn't easy to get, and it's not cheap for those who manage it, either. Especially when you need so much of it. Nerima has low property values-in just about any other district you'd be outta luck completely-but you're asking a bit much. Are you sure nothing else will do?" Kaze nodded in the affirmative. "I'm afraid not. It has to be there, I'm sure of it." "Ah, well, it's your money. What're you building, anyway?" Kaze took a sip of tea. "A cathedral." The man blinked. "You catholic?" "Not quite," the priest deadpanned. "I see. Well, it's none of my business. I think you'll have enough here for me to get you the deeds, but you'll still need a few permits before you can start building. Along with the cost of the actual construction itself, that's quite a bill for you to pay." Kaze frowned. "Well, I'll have to see my business partner about finding ways of making the money. Good day, sir." They bowed to each other, and Kaze walked outside, pondering. Then he turned away.  
  
After a bit of walking, he came to a recent battlefield, easily recognizable by the large gashes in just about everything within a 10- meter radius of an unconscious body. Rayden stood over the body, idly tugging on his leather gloves. "Ah, Master Shikodan. I trust all went well?" Rayden looked up, then smiled at his old friend. "Yeah, she's not as good as her brother. Didn't even take a scratch." Kaze nodded in satisfaction, and glanced down at the unconscious ninja. She didn't appear to have any cuts, and there was no blood, but still... "Will she require any healing?" Rayden shrugged. "I dunno. Probably not. I didn't cut her or anything, so she should be okay." "Excellent. Well, now that that's taken care of, I have a matter of some importance to discuss with you. Come." Kaze stopped for a moment to nod at a tree, curiously enough, then turned and began walking toward the dojo, and Rayden swiftly hurried to catch up. ___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
Cyrax waited until both Rayden and Kaze had turned a corner before uncloaking himself. Jumping down onto the street, he frowned slightly. If he didn't know better, he would've sworn that the priest had been nodding to him. But that was impossible, right? Even the great Matriarch of the Hitokage was impressed by his skill; how could a mere priest possibly have noticed him? Putting the question at the back of his mind, he shook his head as he looked down upon the body of his sister. He loved her dearly, but he sorely wished she did not feel as strongly toward him. He couldn't help but feel a bit angry that Rayden had harmed her, but that was swiftly crushed under the boot of logic. The man was only defending himself, and Eiko would recover without a scar. Taking out a water bottle, he splashed some on the girl's face, and she sputtered a bit before her eyes fluttered open. "Wha... what? Where... Cyrax?" Eiko sat up slowly, clutching her head in pain. "Yes, it's me. Be careful, you're hurt." Eiko held up her hand, and Cyrax pulled his sister to her feet, where she teetered unsteadily. "Ugh. I feel as if I was hit by a truck." Cyrax let go of her, and stared down with his one eye. "I saw the whole thing. A truck would have been a mercy, I think." He knew from experience how hard Rayden hit, and he was quite surprised that his little sister hung in as long as she did. Her eyes burned suddenly as the whole occurrence came back to her, and the young ninja clenched her teeth. "He... he beat me! No! No, I will defeat him! Next time I'll-" "There won't BE a next time," Cyrax chided, "I appreciate your concern for my welfare, sister, but I cannot allow you to attack Shikodan again." Eiko scowled, then looked sad. This wasn't the first time he'd tried to diffuse her seeking of Rayden's death, and she knew that there was nothing he could really do about it, short of knocking her out and tying her up. "Brother, he must face justice for what he has done!" Cyrax sighed. They both knew how these discussions went, yet continued to play out their parts anyway. "Eiko, it is my concern, not yours." "I'm making it my concern!" Suddenly, a thought came to his head. "Eiko, he's far too dangerous for you to kill. What if he didn't hold back next time?" Eiko stuttered a bit. "He-He was n-not holding back!" "He fought you with a five foot blade that can cleave stone, and you don't have so much as a papercut." He deadpanned. Eiko opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Cyrax nodded. "Sister, as your protector, it is my duty to see to your safety. Therefore, I cannot allow you to pursue this vendetta with Shikodan in good conscience. It is entirely contradictory to my responsibilities." Eiko twitched slightly, then began to say something again when Cyrax suddenly put a hand in front of her mouth, warning her not to speak. For a moment her anger rose, thinking that her brother was trying to terminate the discussion before she had a chance to make her case, but then she realized he wasn't even looking at her any more. "There's someone in that alley." Eiko started, then glanced in that direction as well, and quickly confirmed what Cyrax had already told her. Nothing was visible to the naked eye, of course, but there were other signs to look for. "Come out! Now!" A katana flashed in the sunlight as Cyrax drew it from its sheath, hidden beneath his black cape. The figure hastily stepped out, and Cyrax and Eiko both relaxed at the sight. It was a young man, just a bit older than both of them, dressed in a tight-fitting ninja suit with the crest of the Hitokage on his arm, which he held up to show off the mark. The man approached, and Cyrax smiled. "Well, this was unexpected. Why are you here?" The man bowed deeply first, then lowered the ninja mask that covered his nose and mouth. "I am only here to deliver a message, Ayakana, and inform you to make preparations with all due haste." He held out a small scroll, which Cyrax took curiously. "Preparations? Preparations for what?" Eiko asked. "Uh... perhaps you had better read the letter." Eiko turned to her brother, who was already doing so. The young man blinked, then looked up. "It would appear that father is coming here... along with the Matriarch herself!" Eiko blinked herself. "Father? The Matriarch? Here? Why?" "It... it doesn't say... just that they're coming soon, so we should be ready to receive them." Eiko turned to the other man, who she realized (much to her annoyance and secret satisfaction) had been staring at her chest ever since he was relieved of the message. "You! Do you have any idea what this is all about?" The older ninja shrugged slightly. "Well, don't hold me to this, but Cyrax sends letters home to his father that track his progress when he was searching for that swordsman, right?" Cyrax was a very well-known figure in his clan, as befitting his skill and position, as well as his injury and the shame he suffered for it, and hence his tale of tracking down the swordsman responsible was something of an legend back home. Cyrax nodded. "Well, I heard that some of the stuff in the letters attracted the attention of Master Ayakana and the Matriarch. I don't know about what the Matriarch wants, as you know that nobody spies on or gossips about her, but I heard a lot of people talking about how Master Ayakana has been bringing up that old engagement that he made for Eiko." "The... engagement? Oh boy..." Eiko put her hand to her forehead. "This is JUST what I need." Cyrax considered it. "The engagement... that would be to Ranma, the pigtailed one, if I'm correct." He glanced to his side, only to see that Eiko was muttering to herself instead of listening to him. He shrugged. "Still, that doesn't explain why the Matriarch would come as well." The ninja bowed in apology. "I can only offer what I have already told you." Cyrax nodded, then bowed back. "Thank you. You may go." The man replaced his face mask and leapt away, using the forest as cover to conceal his passage. "Hmph. Well he'd better be REALLY cute, or Daddy can just forget about it..." Eiko continued muttering, even as her brother took her hand and began dragging her away. ___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
"If it is not the foul sorcerer Ranma Saotome! Now that I have at last secured Akane Tendo from the clutches of you and your evil compatriot, Moroboshi, I shall at last-" Ranma ignored Kuno as he continued talking, and stood up from where he sat at the end of a bench. "Whatever Kuno. Night-night." Then he stamped his foot down on his end of the bench, causing the other end to bounce up and slam the kendoist firmly in the jaw, snapping his head up. Kuno slumped onto the ground a moment later, and Ranma resumed eating.  
  
"Hmph. I tell you, all this casual violence is simply barbaric. Real men find other ways to resolve their differences, without their fists." Mendo sat down on the bench opposite Ranma, followed by Ataru and several other student. Ranma ignored him. "Like you're one to talk, Mendo. Always carrying that sword around." Ataru snorted, then started digging into his lunch with a speed that challenged Ranma's. Shutaro sniffed, then delicately started eating his own lunch as he talked. "The Mendo family blade I carry around for purposes OTHER than the vile use for which it was constructed." "At least until Ataru pisses him off," one other student interjected, causing chuckles around the table. Mendo continued as if nothing had been said. "The blade intimidates, and gives me a psychological edge. Of course, I don't expect creatures of such feeble intelligence like yourselves to understand such things." "Aw, he's still sore that Kuno's so much better than him at kendo!" Another student barked out. Mendo turned red at the barb, and his left eyebrow began to twitch. Mendo was more attractive, more popular, smarter, and richer than Kuno was (as well as more sane), but it always struck a particular nerve within him that he could never even begin to match the dimwit in the physical arena. Never mind that Kuno refused to acknowledge Mendo's superiority in any other area as well. The first time he had challenged Kuno, he had tried to replace him as captain of the kendo club, and ignored all of the older boy's arrogant ranting about his incredible skill with a smirk and a shake of his head. He hadn't been able to move for two days afterwards. Then, with that blow to his pride fresh on everyone's minds, he challenged Kuno again, intent on healing his wounded reputation and claiming to everyone that kendo was a thinking man's game; an arena where Kuno couldn't hope to match him. The half-hour that he had spent having to endure Kuno's victorious laughter and egotistical speeches as the kendoist stood over him was a torture exceeded only by the taunts he had endured ever since from his classmates. Ranma looked up at him. "Kuno's better than you?" Mendo continued twitching. "......... Marginally........." "Man, that's rough. Are you a cripple or something?" Ranma asked. It sure seemed that way, what with how he was shaking like that. Nearby, Ataru and several others collapsed into laughter. Suddenly, all of Mendo's anxiety seemed to melt away, and he looked up pleasantly. "No, actually. I simply do not go to such lengths for the purpose of something so barbaric as to beat another person into unconsciousness." Ranma blinked, then scratched his head. "Ah. So you're just a wimp then. Figures." Next to Mendo, Ataru and his friends once again started bellowing with mirth. Mendo shot up. "'Wimp'? 'WIMP'?! Why you little-" Mendo's hand reached for the handle of his katana, but then Ranma stood up and patted him on the shoulder. "Hey, don't take it personally or anything. But if you don't know how to use that sword, you shouldn't carry it around like that. You could hurt yourself. Actually, I have a friend who could give you lessons if you're interested." Mendo's hand finished closing on the sword's handle. *Shing* Ataru and the others blinked as Ranma blocked the slash with his foot, leaving the pigtailed boy standing on one foot with his other leg up in the air as he shook his head. "You see? No real power behind the swing, and the execution was weak. Plus I wonder if you even know how to extend the blow using air pressure. I didn't even feel a breeze." Mendo merely stood miserably, his blade being somehow held at the edge by Ranma's slipper, wondering how the situation could become any more humiliating. Of course, he realized the answer as soon as Kuno stepped up behind him. "Indeed, his skill is meager, to say the least. And look at his stance; he's off-balance, inviting one to disarm him before the final blow." "Look at this sword, is it even made to be used, or is it just decoration?" "This defense is sloppy, and his initiative is pathetic. Truly a disgrace to all who practice the fine art of kendo." Over at the bench, one of the students next to Ataru shook his head. "Man, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starting to feel sorry for Mendo." The others stared at him for a moment, and then shoved him off the bench. ___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
Ranma flipped out of his seat as soon as the bell rang, then leapt out the window to make a three-point landing on the ground, hardly disturbing the ground underneath. Then, after taking a moment to readjust his backpack, he started running for the gate. He wasn't in any particular hurry, but Kaze had said that he was starting work on something today, and Ranma wanted to find out what it was. He skidded to a stop as a voice called out to him. "Ranma! Did you see where that pervert went?!" Ranma blinked. It was Lum, who was looking angry. Very angry. 'I wonder what's up.' "Ataru just left the classroom. He shouldn't be out of the building yet." Ranma replied. Now it was Lum's turn to blink. "No! Not darling! The other pervert!" "Other... pervert?" Ranma asked slowly. That's when the shouting started. "You little sicko!" "Come back here!" "Give me back my underwear!" "I'll kill you!" "You dirty old man!" "Stop!" Ranma could only stare as he watched a huge crowd of girls pass from window to window inside the building. Unfortunately, he couldn't get a good look at what they were chasing, though the "dirty old man" comment gave him an uncomfortable sense of dread. However, the cackle that followed confirmed once and for all who it was that was causing all the fuss. "Whatta haul! Whatta haul!" Ranma slapped his forehead. "Oh, for the love of..."  
  
Happousai laughed with glee as the horde of schoolgirls continued chasing him, wielding brooms, mops, bookbags, and almost everything else of any significant weight. Eventually, the old lecher decided he'd had enough of simply running, and leapt out one of the second-story windows to bounce onto the ground below. Shinobu glared furiously out the window, and then turned to her fellow enraged females. "After him! For his crimes of perversion, he MUST DIE!!!" The angry mob let out a cheer, then rushed after Shinobu down the stairs. Happousai listened to declaration for a moment, and then shook his head, preparing to accelerate away from the mob of foolish women. They actually thought they could catch him? Then he frowned as his ears picked up the hiss of air moving quickly, as if through a tube or something, and jumped out of the way just before a wind blade cut deeply into the ground he was standing on. Happousai turned around angrily to see Ranma grinning at his handiwork. "Why you little whelp! How dare you?!" Ranma snorted. "Whatsa matter, old freak? I hope I'm not interrupting anything!" He grinned as Happousai glared at him, then blinked in surprise when the old lecher sighed and crossed his arms. "I'd teach you a lesson, boy, but for some reason I'm feeling rather content right now. As if a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders." "That would be your bag of underwear." Ranma pointed out, jabbing a thumb toward the group of girls that were frantically shifting through a huge pile of women's unmentionables, "It caught the tail end of that wasp strike and got cut open." Happousai made a curious *Crack* noise as he stared, shell-shocked, at the fate that had befallen his precious silken darlings, and he began to glow furiously as rage overtook his misery. "Rrrrrraaaaaanmaaaaaaaaa!" He growled, and his aura started to take shape. *Zak!* *Zak!* *Zak!* Three lightning bolts crashed down on the ancient martial artist in quick succession, and he fell to the ground in a charred mess. "Fellow women! Wait!" The various schoolgirls all stopped their searching to look up at Shinobu, who had moved past the pile of undies and was now pointing the handle of a broom threateningly at the blackened form of Happousai. "We can recover our property later! For now, priority must go toward punishing the man responsible!" The girls looked at each other, and Yuka spoke up from near the back. "Is it Ataru in disguise?" "Hey! Leave me outta this!" A voice yelled down from a second story window. Sayuri shook her head. "Never mind! She's right! Let's kill the perv first!" "HEAR HEAR!!!" Happousai twitched slightly, then sat up. On his left was a glowing Lum. In front of him was a glowing Ranma. To his right was a group of girls that, while not illuminated, were packing many blunt objects and outnumbered him significantly. "Well... goodbye then!" He took off. "COME BACK HERE, YOU OLD PERVERT!!!" The mob spoke as one, and as one it gave chase.  
  
Ataru poked his head out of the main door to the school, and stared at the big pile of bras and panties lying out on the grass. "You know, one day, when I'm old and senile, I'm going to look back on this and laugh." Down by his knees, Cherry sipped some tea before speaking. "I doubt you'll live that long." "Shut up." ___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
*Thwooooom!* *Crumble!* *Crash!* The flames washed over the stone, steel, and plaster, burning away everything that could be burned to ash. Shooting the flame was a stunning woman in a tight-fitting business suit with long, loose, purple hair and piercing red eyes. She let the fire die off a bit, and lowered her smoking index finger before frowning at the still-impressive mound of ground-up construction material before her. Stepping back, she put her hands together, then slowly drew them apart, a red, semi-transparent sphere of energy fluctuating before her. She let it grow to its full size, then thrust her hands forward, shooting it off into the construction yard. *Kablam!!* The fireball detonated violently, sending twisted, molten metal and charred concrete flying in all directions, and prompting a small collapse of the trash pile, as the various materials crumbled inward. Rivet smiled as she saw two shapes struggle their way out of the mess. "Well, well, well... if it isn't Rotor and my sister's little bug. You big boys come here often?" The grotesque, cybernetic creature focused the ruby lens of its mechanical eye on the smirking woman, and then finished pulling itself free from the rubble. "The mission has failed. We must report back immediately." Bolt dusted some debris off of his carapace with his clawed arm, and then walked up to Rivet slowly. "Thank you." He said simply, then turned to Rotor. "Can you locate Nail or Bit?" "Don't bother," Rivet interrupted, "I found them yesterday, wandering about in the Dazuun Wastes. Nail told me all about your little mission. Tell me, were these humans really able to take you boys out?" Bolt's mandibles clicked, and he turned once again toward Rotor. "Nail and Bit have failed to destroy their targets as well. We'd best be leaving." "Wait a minute." Rivet said, and Bolt turned back to her. "I find this... interesting. Tell me, who are these people you were supposed to kill?" "That is none of your concern," Bolt hissed. "There is no disadvantage in informing her." Rotor concluded aloud. The mechanical implant over what could be perceived as his eye beeped, and a light beam shot out and formed the image of Ranma, Rayden, and Kaze on the ground, at 1/2 normal size. "These are the targets. Ranma Saotome, Rayden Shikodan, and Kaze Toren. All three have proven to be very capable and extremely dangerous, though the exact reason for their extermination is unknown. Surely they are no threat to Lord Doppler's Dominion. They possess little knowledge of Chryslon and show no intent to even trek there." "Rotor, that's enough!" Bolt's mandibles clicked furiously, and he turned back to Rivet. "Thank you once again for freeing us. We must now be on our way." The insecticoid fighter immediately dashed for the forest, followed by the slow, rumbling gait of his companion as they sought escape.  
  
Rivet didn't bother to wait until they were out of sight, and began walking toward the center of Nerima. Three such young humans defeated her sister and her companions? Very interesting. With a smile, she straightened up as she walked, which earned a few appreciative stares from the men that happened to be watching. 'I'd really like to talk to them. Maybe see what they can do. Who knows, maybe we could even have a little fun?' Rivet snickered. But first she had to find them. It shouldn't be too hard. On the whole, the people that inhabited this world were lazy and weak, confident in their safety and superiority. Suffice to say, after just two hours of walking among the people around here, even Rivet was thinking about the merits of going on a murderous rampage (you know, just to spice things up around here). And she LIKED humans. Locating a group of them with such extraordinary strength shouldn't be hard at all. *Rumble* Rivet stopped at the noise, and looked about as the subtle growl continued and started to rise. At first she thought it must be a rock worm, or similar beast, but then realized that there was no way such a fearsome and destructive predator could be found in a place like Japan. From looking around at the other pedestrians, she could easily tell that they had no idea what was happening either, which also ruled out any normal occurrence that she just didn't know about. "Get back here, you old freak!" "Stay still so I can zap you!" "Freeze, pervert!!" She felt a sweatdrop roll down her head as she watched the unusual procession run by on the other side of the road, and wondered what was going on. "Well, what have we here?" Rivet turned around at the voice, and then blinked, startled, as she stood before one of the men she had seen in Rotor's hologram. Rayden Shikodan, she believed. She smiled warmly. "Well, hello there. You know, I've been looking for someone like you." Rayden grinned. "And I've been looking for someone like you. Now how 'bout we stop messing around and get right down to business?" He took his hands out of his coat pockets, and his fingers flexed in anticipation. She matched his grin. "Well, I just wanted to talk, but since you put it that way..." she leaned back onto the wall, and stuck her chest out enticingly. "Come and get me, big boy." "'Kay." *Shink!* Rivet blinked as she suddenly found a rather large sword pointed straight at her neck. Rayden grinned some more. "I'm really gonna enjoy this." Rivet couldn't help but stare nervously at the diamond-sharp sword tip just an inch from her neck. "Um... just to make sure we're on the same page here, are you planning on having your way with me?" Rayden stared at her as if she had just asked the stupidest question in the world. "What? What the hell are you talking about?" "Yeah. Okay. That's what I thought. Hey! Your shoes are untied!" Rayden looked down at his feet, and Rivet wasted no time in backhanding him and running away. Rayden watched her go for a moment, rubbing his cheek. "Yeesh. She didn't have to hit me. Geez." Then he looked back down at his boots. "............ Wait a minute! These things don't even have laces! Hey! Stop!"  
  
Ranma threw another wind blade at Happousai as the old man streaked ahead of him, and again the old man simply jumped up right before it hit. It was really starting to get frustrating for Ranma, as he was already leaving a string of craters and gouges in the wake of the angry mob, and was swiftly running out of energy to continue his barrage. He was rather impressed that the other groups, namely the schoolgirls and then Lum, were keeping up with him. Well, Lum could fly, but she had been throwing out lightning bolts like crazy. Okay, time for some quick thinking... "Hey look! An attractive female streaker!" *Rrrrrk!* Happousai skidded to a stop. "What? Where?!" *Ka-ZAK!!!* "Gotcha!" *Crash!* *Bam!* "Die, pervert!" "Get him!" *Crunch!* *Crack!* "I can't believe it. What kind of an idiot would fall for that TWICE?" Ranma shook his head sadly. After a while of doing this, he stopped and frowned. Ranma looked down one street, then another, and started tapping his foot on the fence he was standing on. Then he blinked as realization hit him. "Oh, wait. Ataru's still back at Furinkan." Shaking his head at the wasted time, Ranma hopped off the fence and crossed the street, ignoring the girls that walked away from Happousai's bruised and broken body.  
  
"Hey! Leave me alone!" "What're you running for? Come back and fight me!" Ranma blinked, then turned around to see Rayden run by, chasing a beautiful woman in a business suit with a short skirt. He was obviously trying to kill her, as he kept making slashes with his sword that would end up gouging into the concrete walk, or an adjacent wall, or cutting down a telephone pole. The only thing that stopped Ranma from trying to stop him immediately was that the woman wasn't having too much trouble avoiding every strike. However, she obviously realized that her life was in danger, as she wasn't taking any chances either. And then recognition set in. "Hey! It's Nail!" New alarms started going off in Rivet's head as she heard the new voice, and a quick glance caught a glowing figure moving at her at high speed. Quickly digging her foot into the concrete walk to kill her momentum, she managed to turn around right before Ranma smashed into the walk before her like a comet, and duck under Rayden's blade as it cut a straight horizontal line that would have sliced her apart just below her shoulders. Hitting the ground and rolling, she called her maji to her hand and was about to activate it, when Ranma charged through her defenses with a brutal kick that sent her tumbling into a wall. Getting to her feet quickly, she jumped up and rebounded off the stone barrier, just before Rayden and Ranma pulverized it with a twin strike. Landing behind them, she willed her maji to form a sword, and energy flooded out of the golden rod, collecting in the air into the shape of a great claymore. Then she sweatdropped as she watched Rayden and Ranma approaching, apparently not impressed by her summoning a huge sword out of thin air. "Hey! Wait! Hold on! I don't want to kill you!" The approaching fighters stopped and stared. "You don't?" "No!" Rayden and Ranma stared at her skeptically for a moment, and then shared a glance before Rayden spoke up. "Well, who are you here to kill? I mean, if it's someone we don't like..." he trailed off, and Ranma jabbed him in the stomach with his elbow for the comment. "I'm not here to kill anyone!" Rivet protested. Ranma and Rayden both fell into a heavy silence, contemplating the concept of a demonic creature that didn't wish to kill anyone. It was about then that Ranma noticed the wound from the kick he had landed earlier. It had been a powerful strike, and there was a bit of blood where it had broken skin. "Hey... you're not regenerating!" Ranma stared for a moment, then scratched his head. "Are you Nail?" Rivet blinked, then sighed in relief as she realized at least one prompt for their relentless attacks. "No, no. My name is Rivet." Ranma nodded. "Right... well, anyway, if you're not one of those freaky monsters that keep coming back, and you're not trying to hurt anyone... well, uh, sorry about trying to kill you. We don't usually get many demons that aren't out to kill us, you see." Rivet chuckled nervously. "Oh, I understand completely! Of course!" Rivet let her maji deactivate, and the claymore shattered into motes of yellow light, which were quickly sucked up into the small golden rod. Ranma nodded, glad that there were no hard feelings. "Well, come on Ray. Let's go home." Rayden followed Ranma as he jumped onto a fence, but glanced back at Rivet suspiciously. "But she's a demon! Shouldn't we kill her anyway? On general principle?" "Killing things on general principle is wrong." "Why?" "I dunno. Ask Kaze next time you see him!" Rivet sweatdropped once again, and decided to be more careful from now on when traveling through Japan. "*Gasp!* Where? Where is she? *Pant* *Pant* I got here as fast as I could! *Wheeze*" Ataru fell to the ground, his energy exhausted, and groaned at having run such a distance when there weren't any naked women around. Rivet shook her head. What a bizarre place. She'd have stick around for a while. ___________________________________________________________________________ _______  
  
Ranma tried to shrug off the feeling of dread and uncertainty that kept growing as he approached the Tendo Dojo. There was no smoke or fire or anything, so the most obvious and common disaster hadn't happened. This alone was enough to bring great relief to Ranma's mind; it wasn't often that he and his friends stayed anywhere for more than two days without it being totally demolished in one way or another. But then why couldn't he shake this feeling? Ranma found at least part of the answer when he noticed that Genma was slowly sneaking away from the dojo on the other side of the perimeter wall. Ranma wouldn't have noticed at all, except that the small panda spirit floating above Genma's head was just barely visible above the edge of the stone barrier. Gesturing Rayden to stop and remain quiet, Ranma hopped on top of the wall, and then yanked his father up and over onto the sidewalk. "Gaah!" *Thud* "Ow! Boy! What's the meaning of this?!" Ranma snorted. "Why don't YOU tell ME, Pop? What's the big idea trying to sneak away from the dojo, anyway? What'dja do this time?" "Thank you for catching him. Saved me the trouble." Ranma looked up at the voice, startled, and saw the ninja boy he had met the previous day, Cyrax, standing atop the wall, where only moments ago there had been nothing. "Oh... uh... no problem." Ranma muttered. 'How'd he sneak up on me like that? Maybe he's got some sort of special technique I can learn!' Rayden smiled up at the boy. "Hey Ayakana, how's it going?" Then something occurred to him, and he looked confused. "Uh, hey, why are you here, anyway?" Cyrax sighed, then scratched the back of his head, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "There is a matter of... some importance that we must attend to inside. If you would follow me..." Ranma and Rayden did so, dragging Genma along with them, and Rayden sighed. "This isn't about your sister, is it?" Cyrax shook his head. "Somewhat. Actually, it involves Saotome far more than you." Both demon hunters blinked at that, and shared a confused glance. Cyrax said no more, but stepped into the house. Ranma let his friend drag Genma in ahead of him, and then took a deep breath, steeling himself for whatever lay beyond the outer walls of the Tendo household. He expected Eiko to be there, and she was sitting at the dining room table in a somewhat meditative position, tea in hand. That Soun and his daughters, as well as Kaze were present also came as no surprise. His mother's presence wasn't expected, but she had wanted to visit, so he wasn't that curious as to why she was here. What he didn't expect at all was an older man he didn't remember ever seeing before, dressed in an elaborate black cloak that looked far too ornamental to be of any use to a ninja, to be sitting next to her. He had short black hair, and though his face bore many scars, it was easy to see the resemblance to Eiko and Cyrax. The man took one glance at him, and then smiled broadly, standing up. "Ah! At last! It's been far too long since I've seen you son-in-law! What a fine young man you've grown up to be!" Eiko looked up at him as if noticing that he had entered, and her eyes widened slightly upon seeing who it was. Ranma idly noted that she had traded her ninja gear for a delicate white silken kimono that hugged her figure well, though her state of dress was pretty much the farthest thing from his mind. Ranma stared for a moment at the taller man, and then looked over at Cyrax, who could only shrug apologetically. Then he snatched Genma away from Rayden, and threw the elder Saotome onto the table roughly. "Okay Pop. You've got twenty seconds. Talk." Genma whimpered.  
  
End Chapter 6 *************************************************************************** *******  
  
Author's Notes: To avoid further embarrassment and humiliation on my part, I will cease referring to special techniques in Nexus in Japanese. Primarily because they're really screwed up. Maybe if someone wants to give me translations, but otherwise I just won't bother with it. 


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